NOTE: This does not include all of the notes for this event. Click here for the complete notes!
Risk Factors Definition: Demographic, geographic, or behavioral factors that likely correlate with increased suicide risk over longer term. Protective Factors Definition: Opposite of risk factors, these are factors that likely correlate with decreased suicide risk over long term. Strongest warning signs:
IMPORTANT NOTE: A large majority of people with a mental illness do NOT attempt suicide, however it is important to make note of this risk. Subjective Risk Factors: Someone exhibiting impulsiveness, aggressiveness, hopelessness, or anhedonia. Executive Risk Factors: Decision making problems or problem solving problems (difficulty doing these tasks could indicate higher risk of attempting suicide). Interaction Risk Factors:
Family History: Adverse childhood experiences as well as a family history of suicide are potential risk factors. Stressors in life:
PROTECTIVE FACTORS Social support: Religious affiliation, having children at the home, and having a support circle of friends and/or family can reduce risk of suicide. Psychological factors: Religious belief, overall positivity (optimistic outlook on life), and having a sense of agency or control in one’s life. Having a sense of agency or control can make the person feel as though they can affect what is going on in their life and change what they don’t like rather than feeling helpless or like an unwilling victim. Mental health treatment: Can be a protective factor IF the treatment is available and the person is willing to use it (CBT or DBT are often used as modalities of treatment). IMPORTANT NOTE: These factors (both risk and protective) vary based on the population. Knowing these factors can help keep you aware and on heightened alert to spot these signs. GENERAL WARNING SIGNS
Involves a combination of: Risk factors, protective factors, warning signs/precipitating events, clinical observation, assessment instruments. Grouped into 4 categories (used to help determine level of intervention needed): minimal, low, moderate, and high risk. INTERVENTION BY RISK LEVEL Minimal risk: Routinely assess and monitor. Identify risk and protective factors (since they often change with time). Ensure they have a good social support system in place and have access to mental health services. Low risk: Same thing as before but consider frequency of contact, safety planning, and involving a friend or family for assistance if need be. Safety planning: Clinicians no longer use something called no harm contracts, which were signed agreements that said the client would not kill themselves between now and some future date. This practice is no longer used as research suggests it does not work and can lull the clinician into a false sense of safety by thinking their client’s risk of suicide has been removed or reduced. This contract has instead been replaced with a safety plan. Safety plan:
COMPONENTS OF A SAFETY PLAN:
Moderate risk: Frequent assessment and monitoring, focus on minimizing risk factors and maximizing protection factors, strongly involve friends/family, prepare the client to access crisis resources, explore the reasons for living and dying to dissuade them from viewing suicide as the best option, and try to instill hope and create a connection to us (clinicians) or with others in their life that they trust to help them when they are feeling desperate or considering suicide. High risk: Frequent/DAILY assessment and monitoring, look into the appropriateness of perhaps using hospitalization, involve everyone in that person’s life to help them, and once again go over reasons for living and dying while trying to instill hope and connectedness.
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20 February 2021 The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Irvine (soon-to-move-to-Anaheim) Campus PsyD Panel Event 2 doctoral pathways:
Core Competencies
PsyD Student Panel
Additional Q&A
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