Suicide and Risk Assessments

Overview

The topic of this paper is suicide and risk assessments. As Castaneda (2018) points out, suicide has become something of an epidemic in the US, where in 2016 alone 45,000 people committed suicide. Furthermore, from1999 to 2016, suicide rates rose in almost every US state (Castaneda, 2018). Even highly successful people like Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain can be susceptible to suicide, which is why it is so important to be able to identify indicators of when someone is at risk. Suicide is clearly a major public health concern, and risk assessments are a key part of suicide prevention. Risk assessments help identify individuals who may be at risk for suicide and provide information about the signs and symptoms of suicide. They also help to determine the level of risk and the best course of treatment. While risk assessments are not perfect, they are an important tool in suicide prevention. By identifying those at risk, interventions can be put in place to help reduce the chances of suicide. This paper provides a literature review of sources related to this topic, summarizes the findings and methods of the sources, examines common themes, and discusses best practices that organizations might like to consider regarding suicide risk assessment going forward.

Literature Review

The article by Zalsman et al. (2016) provides a ten year systematic review of suicide prevention strategies. By looking at articles in the PubMed and Cochrane libraries, published between 2005 and 2014, the authors wanted to identify and assess seven suicide prevention strategies and what the research had to say about them. The seven strategies included: public and physician education, media strategies, screening, restricting access to suicide means, treatments, and internet or hotline support. What they found after reviewing the literature was that no single strategy worked better than others but that combinations of evidence-based strategies can help at both the individual and population levels. They did conclude, however, that more research is needed in understanding how these strategies can best be applied.

The article by Nock et al. (2008) focused on examining government data on suicide and suicidal behavior and conducting a systematic review of studies on the causes of suicide published from 1997 to 2007. The researchers wanted to know more about how widely spread suicide was, what kind of risk and protective factors other researchers had identified, and what the trends in statistics on the problem showed. They found that successful suicides tend to be men and that unsuccessful suicides tend to be women and people who are young, unmarried or have psychiatric problems. They also found that in spite of new interventions, rates have not changed much. They conclude that more research is needed on clinical assessments so as to help bring suicide rates down more effectively.

The article by Chan et al. (2016) focused on the authors attempt to examine through systematic review the literature on suicide and self-harm relationships. Their goal was to see if they could find predictors to help show when people who engaged in self-harm might also be at risk of suicide. The researchers found that there are no scales sufficient for assessing suicide risk and that risk factors are common among populations. They...

…individuals risk factors and protective factors for suicide. Every individual is unique and popular risk assessments are insufficient for doing the job: a strong, comprehensive psychosocial assessment is needed to identify the persons needs and risks. Finally, it is important to develop a safety plan with the individual that includes coping strategies and emergency contacts. By following these best practices, individuals who are at risk for suicide can be more effectively assessed and supported. Recommendations for best practices include approaching the issue of suicide with caution and care, so that every individual is able to present as an individual rather than as a statistic. It is essential to helping prevent suicide to see individuals as real people with real concerns and issues that are unique to them. There is no one strategy that works better than others, but with careful combinations of strategies like hotlines, like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, education and screening, lives may be helped and saved.

Conclusion

The suicide epidemic is a growing problem in the United States. Each year, suicide kills more people than homicide. Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in the US. And the numbers are only going up. Suicide rates have been increasing for the past two decades. And there are no signs that the trend is slowing down. There are a number of factors that contribute to the suicide epidemic. Mental illness, for example, is a major factor. There are also social factors that contribute to the suicide epidemic. Social isolation, economic hardship, and relationship problems can all lead to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The sicide epidemic is a complex…