Textbook of Suicide Assessment And Management - Hardcover

9781585622139: Textbook of Suicide Assessment And Management

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585622133 ISBN 13: 9781585622139

Publisher: Amer Psychiatric Pub Inc, 2006

Suicide risk assessment is a core competency that mental health professionals are expected to acquire during their training, yet the reality of potential suicides can prove daunting for busy practitioners faced with an overload of information on the subject. This book meets that challenge head-on by providing clinically useful information for anyone encountering patients at risk for suicide.
The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Suicide Assessment and Management calls on the authority of 40 expert contributors—including members of the APA's Workgroup on Suicidal Behaviors, who developed the APA Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Treatment of Patients With Suicidal Behaviors—reflecting a wide range of clinical and forensic experience. The authors provide informative cases accompanied by analysis that integrates clinical findings with textual discussion, along with chapter-end "key points," in order to help practitioners

understand demographic, gender, and cultural variables in suicide risk
use psychological tests and scales in assessment
assess risk in special populations, such as children and adolescents and the elderly, and jail and prison inmates
determine treatment options: psychopharmacological/ECT, psychodynamic, and collaborative (or "split") treatment
manage suicide risk in the context of major mental disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, personality disorders, and substance-related disorders), with specific guidelines for risk assessment
address suicide risk in outpatient, emergency, and inpatient and partial hospitalization settings, patient safety versus freedom of movement, and strategies for increasing the safety factor in various aspects of practice

In addition to addressing the many facets of patient care—including cautioning against a suicide risk factor created by limitations of benefits in managed-care situations—the book also discusses clinician care: how practitioners can cope with the anxiety and fatigue arising from treating suicidal patients, the professional's role following a patient's suicide, legal issues involving standard of care and liability, and risk management guidelines for avoiding malpractice litigation. Suicide risk exists along an ever-changing continuum. This book underscores that risk assessment is a process, not an event. It clearly shows how sound assessment can lead to more effective management of patients at high risk for suicide.

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From the Inside Flap:

Providing clinically useful information for mental health professionals encountering patients at risk, The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Suicide Assessment and Management calls on the authority of 40 expert contributors reflecting a wide range of clinical and forensic experience. The authors provide actual cases accompanied by analysis that integrates clinical findings with textual discussion, along with chapter-end "key points," in order to guide practitioners through the process of suicide risk assessment and management.

The book first addresses suicide risk assessment in children and adolescents, the elderly, and in jail and prison populations. It also stresses the importance of understanding demographic, cultural, and gender factors and using psychological tests and scales in suicide assessment and management. It then covers treatment optionspsychopharmacological/ECT, psychodynamic, and collaborative, or "split," treatmentand provides specific guidelines for assessing and managing suicide risk in patients with major mental disorders. The book also discusses coping with the anxiety and fatigue arising from the care of suicidal patients, the professional's role following a patient's suicide, and legal issues involving standard of care and liability. Suicide risk exists along an ever-changing continuum. This book demonstrates that risk assessment is a process, not an event, and clearly shows how sound assessment can lead to more effective management of patients at risk for suicide.

About the Author:

Robert I. Simon, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Program in Psychiatry and Law at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.
Robert E. Hales, M.D., M.B.A. is Joe P. Turpin Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and Medical Director of Mental Health Services of the County of Sacramento in Sacramento, California.

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