Behavioral Emergencies: An Evidence-Based Resource for Evaluating and Managing Risk of Suicide, Violence, and Victimization

In virtually every mental health clinician's career, a situation arises that requires immediate response: A client or patient presents who is suicidal, potentially violent, and/or at risk of being victimized. In such a situation--considered a behavioral emergency--the clinician may have little or no time to consult resources before responding. In this book, Phillip M. Kleespies and his colleagues provide clinicians with critical, evidence-based approaches for the evaluation and management of behavioral emergencies.

This book makes clear the distinction between a behavioral crisis, which is a serious disruption of functioning that does not necessarily imply danger, and a behavioral emergency. Guidance on behavioral emergencies is drawn from both clinical experience and empirical evidence, and the book's structure functions as a curriculum for educating both new and seasoned clinicians. Unique to this book are chapters on violence and suicide risk among adolescents, as well as individuals who are chronically ill. Contributors also discuss the legal and psychological risks associated with treating behavioral emergencies.

Comprehensive in scope, this book provides a solid knowledge base that will be an invaluable resource for all clinicians.

Phillip M. Kleespies, Ph.D., was awarded his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Clark University in 1971. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. As a Clinical Psychologist in the VA Boston Healthcare System, he has over 35 years of experience working in emergency room, urgent care clinic, and inpatient psychiatric settings with patients who are at risk of such behavioral emergencies as suicidal behavior, violence, and victimization. During those years, he has been an active supervisor and teacher to psychology interns and post-doctoral fellows with an interest in learning the evaluation and management of patients at risk to self or others. His research interests have included the development of a database for the study of self-injurious and suicidal behavior in veterans and the impact of patient suicide and suicidal behavior on the treating clinician. In 2006, he was awarded a VA Kizer Award Recognition grant for his work on developing a monitoring system for patient self-injurious behavior in VA Boston. Dr. Kleespies has many publications, and he has made many presentations, on behavioral emergencies and related topics. He is the editor of the book Emergencies in Mental Health Practice: Evaluation and Management (NY: Guilford Press, 1998). He is a member of the VA Boston Ethics Case Consultation Team and the VA Boston Palliative Care Consult Team and the author of the book Life and Death Decisions: Psychological and Ethical Considerations in End-of-Life Care (Washington, DC: APA Books, 2004). Dr. Kleespies is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was the founding President of the Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises, Section VII of APA Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), and he remains involved with the Section as Chair of its Advisory Board. He resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.