The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals and Substance Abuse Counselors

by Shawn Christopher Shea

Critical Acclaim for The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment

"There is . . . no better guide for learning about and clinically assessing the phenomenology of suicidal states. Penned with a compelling elegance and charm, The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment is brimming with clinical wisdom, enlightening case illustrations, and a vibrant sense of compassion."-David A. Jobes, PhD, past president, American Association of Suicidology

"If I were asked to recommend only one book to equip clinicians to conduct the best possible suicide risk assessments, The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment would be it."-Thomas E. Ellis, PsyD, ABPP, past director, Clinical Division of the American Association of Suicidology

"A concise, carefully conceptualized, well-written book . . . highly recommended for all psychiatric residents and all other mental health students."-Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

"This outstanding book is informative, interesting, and clinically useful."-American Journal of Psychiatry

The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment covers all the critical elements of suicide assessment-from risk factor analysis to evaluating clients with borderline personality disorders or psychotic process. This highly acclaimed text provides mental health professionals with the tools they need to assess a client's suicide risk and assign appropriate levels of care using the highly acclaimed interview strategy for eliciting suicidal ideation-the Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (the CASE Approach).

Now available in paperback, the leading book on suicide assessment also contains three important new
* How to Document a Suicide Assessment
* Safety Contracting Pros, Cons, and Documentation
* A Quick Guide to Suicide Prevention Web Sites

Genres: Psychology, Psychiatry, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Social Work, Counselling

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for all clinicians or student clinicians. I was able to try out his technique on several occasions while doing my practicum in Tampa. It is imperative to have a solid background in assessing suicide. It saves lives. Many times, according to Shea, suicidal ideations are situational and once the situation changes, the ideations pass. If these people are not prevented from taking their lives, they will never live to find this out. We all go through low periods, it's up to counselors and caretakers to notice and assist.

[Sydney Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a textbook for clinicians; however, I am not a clinician nor am I in school to become one. I read this as a regular person who has had a family member complete suicide.

There are a few valuable insights I received after reading this:

1) I learned more about what state of mind my brother could have been in during the time that he took his life. This guide gave a very thorough and diverse set of potential patients clinicians could have and I felt like my brother was mirrored in at least one of them.

2) Because of the in depth training an experienced clinician would receive about suicide from this book alone, it helped me to understand that I, being a regular person without a psychological background or any sort of training in psychology, would have a hard time picking up on the signs that a person is experiencing suicidal ideation. Sometimes even the most experienced clinicians still miss the signs, so I’ve gotta give myself grace.

3) I feel personally a little bit more equipped with some tools to ask questions of my own if I feel that someone could potentially be experiencing suicidal thoughts. I feel confident that I could hopefully have more tools to check on family and friends and I have learned what resources to turn to.

Nothing will bring my brother back and I so wish I knew these things before this happened to him so maybe I could have helped save his life, but I can’t go back. So I guess as part of my honor to him, I will try to use these tools in the future and maybe help someone else.

[heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very compassionately written guide. I fear the day I will need to use what I learned from this text, but I’m grateful to have it as a resource. The vignettes were especially helpful for understanding which techniques to employ, how, and when.

[Mehwish · Rating 5 out of 5]

"But Suicides have a special language.
Like carpenters they want to know which tools.
They never ask why build." - Anne Sexton

The book covers the three tasks of suicide assessment:
1) Eliciting information about the risk factors (chapters 1, 2 and 3)
2) Gathering information about client's suicidal ideation and planning (chapters 4, 5 and 6]
3) Arriving at a clinical decision [safely leave or hospitalization] (chapter 7)

Chapter 2 introduces the triggers of suicidal ideation (external stressors, internal conflicts and neurobiological dysfunction) and 3 cover the types of risk factors.
Chapter 4 focuses on preparing for the interview by understanding the roadblocks, resistance, myths, fears, biases and traps of the "suicidal talk". Chapter 5 presents a set of 6 validity techniques to gain access into the world of client's suicidal ideation. These 6 techniques by far are the most important practical tools of this book. Chapter 6 discusses the CASE approach.
Chapter 7 opens with introducing the matrix of assessment settings and concludes with 7 clinical vignettes which neatly demonstrate the principles discussed in the whole book.

This book is a must have on the shelf for all the professionals dealing with suicide.

[Robert Bogue]

It is always interesting to read about the right way to do things from authors that acknowledge nothing is foolproof. The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment explains a process – one which admittedly doesn’t have empirical support. It also acknowledges that our ability to predict short-term risk of suicide is poor. (“Current research shows that clinicians have little ability to predict imminent suicide.”) Like many things, this is a book I purchased but hadn’t read until a recommendation by Skip Simpson – the one discussed in The Suicide Lawyers. While I knew that there wasn’t any clinician (much less framework) that could consistently and accurately predict suicide risk, it was a good thing to inspect a standardized process – that one could support in court if that ever became necessary.

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[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un ouvrage qui sert de base solide en matière de prévention du suicide et qui présente à merveille toute la complexité de la crise suicidaire, en présentant à chaque chapitre des vignettes, souvent issues de l'expérience clinique de l'auteur. En tant que psychologue, ce livre rassure beaucoup et permet de donner quelques repères, mais comme le dit si bien l'auteur, rien ne remplace la pratique clinique. C'est une lecture qui déculpabilise beaucoup également, nous rappelant qu'on peut être le "meilleur" clinicien au monde (si cela a même un sens) et faire des erreurs, rater des signaux d'alerte. Nous rappelant ainsi que l'un des plus importants apprentissages en tant que psychologue-psychothérapeutes est bien celui de l'impuissance.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel more confident than ever after reading this book about my ability to uncover suicidal ideation that may have been previously denied or skirted around by a client. This book outlines compassionate and kind interviewing skills that provide a space space for clients to uncover previously hidden contemplations or plans. The book outlines the potentially lifesaving method of the CASE interview approach. Vignettes outline a wide variety of clinical situations, such clients presenting with borderline traits, substance-induced psychosis and medication-induced compulsive suicidal thoughts. In my opinion, a must read for any clinician.

[Heather Hildebrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book enough for any clinician who has to assess for safety. It changed my practice significantly. It was an engaging book, even though it's a heavy topic. Definitely read it!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readable. Practical. Really.

[Stevie Ekkelkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great psychological view on suicide and the triggers for it. Obviously pretty dark at times.

[Sarah Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed the way I assessed clients. It allowed me to understand the nuance of risk and behavior.

[Magdalena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible, will be recommending to all my psychiatry friends. Clear, objective ways to evaluate suicide risk- i really hope this makes me a better clinician!! It certainly taught me a lot.

[Michele Budd · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much good information, and the author did a great job of explaining ways to incorporate it all into your established practice.

[Nich Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my future occupation it is a great read. Normalize talking about suicide in a non judgemental way so that clients can feel safe to talk about it.

[Kayla Rollings · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting, agonizing, hopeful

[AnjaNaeNae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to clinical suicide assessment. Fav chapter was on validity! Very comprehensive and easy to understand!

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my internship placements has me working with a fair number of clients who have expressed suicidal ideation and some who have made suicide attempts. While I was familiar with the basics of suicide assessment such as normalizing and the need to ask directly, to name suicide or the impulse to die, I didn't have much of a sense of what to do with actual clients. Checking off items from SAD PERSONS or IS PATH WARM could help me label risk factors, but it didn't necessarily point to places of intervention. After all, many of those factors can change very little in the course of brief therapy. The CASE approach focuses on assessing suicide risk, but its focus on behavior incidents, chronology, specific problems being solved by suicide, and specific means and their implications, but the information gathered often makes safety planning and initial interventions clearer because they emerge from the database. In addition, the case vignettes presented within the text and at the end create some familiarity with phrasing and development with clients, helping to reduce my anxiety in discussing such a fraught topic. Like many books in psychotherapy, this one tends to focus on the expert doing it right instead of on the process of developing the skills described. Also, much of the text deals with documentation, which is important, but the length of the clinical notes presented seems intimidating in light of how many notes a clinician will write in a week. I cannot imagine that anyone working out of physical and behavioral health fields would find this book engaging, but it would certainly prove useful for people working with any population where asking about taboo topics will be important to outcomes.

[Jasmine Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down. Suicide is so complex and this book allows practitioners to get a glimpse of what might be going on for an individual who may be contemplating killing themselves. It more importantly gives insight on what to look for, the questions to ask and how to help. I learned so much from this book, and more than I have in the last six years working in the mental health field. The techniques and information taught are so transferable to whatever work setting you might find yourself in. I highly recommend it to any mental health practitioner and anyone who may be interested about suicide.

[Megan HRH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shea gives practical advice, with stories and scripts, about assessing for suicide including reviewing the CASE method. He gives concrete intervention strategies along with theory behind suicidology.I also found his documentation advice helpful, especially when helping to avoid possible litigation. I found it helpful as well as enjoyable (if this subject can be) as a read. Well-written, well researched, helpful.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

so insightful

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not going to ever give a book about suicide assessment 5 stars...but this one definitely deserves 4. Excellent book - well written and engaging. Good call.

[Ryan Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent tool for any clinician in the field. Dr. Shea does a wonderful job sharing his experience and knowledge in a practical way that every clinician can begin using immediately.

[Magalie LV]

A must.