Over 700 000 people lose their life to suicide every year. Reducing the global suicide mortality rate by one third by 2030 is both an indicator and a target (the only one for mental health) in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030. WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work 2019-2023 includes the same indicator with a reduction of 15% by 2023.
This product addresses the global public health problem of close to 800 000 suicides every year, of which 79% occur in low- and middle-income countries. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the age group 15-29 years. WHO guidelines already exist in the area of suicide prevention (https://www.who.int/mental_health/mhgap/evidence/suicide/en/); therefore, this product is not a guideline, but will ensure the implementation of the existing guidelines.
Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.
This evaluation study aims to establish and apply measures to assess whether a sustainable infrastructure is being developed nationally and locally to support the 'Choose Life' strategy in achieving its objectives.
An innovative treatment approach with a strong empirical evidence base, brief cognitive-behavioral therapy for suicide prevention (BCBT) is presented in step-by-step detail in this authoritative manual. Leading treatment developers show how to establish a strong collaborative relationship with a suicidal patient, assess risk, and immediately work to establish safety. Proven interventions are described for building emotion regulation and crisis management skills and dismantling the patient's suicidal belief system. The book includes case examples, sample dialogues, and 17 reproducible handouts, forms, scripts, and other clinical tools. The large-size format facilitates photocopying; purchasers also get access to a webpage where they can download and print the reproducible materials.
Suicide prevention initiatives are part of much broader systems connected to activities such as the diagnosis of mental illness, the recognition of clinical risk, improving access to care, and coordinating with a broad range of outside agencies and entities around both prevention and public health efforts. Yet suicide is also an intensely personal issue that continues to be surrounded by stigma. On September 11-12, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in Washington, DC, to discuss preventing suicide among people with serious mental illness. The workshop was designed to illustrate and discuss what is known, what is currently being done, and what needs to be done to identify and reduce suicide risk. Improving Care to Prevent Suicide Among People with Serious Mental Illness summarizes presentations and discussions of the workshop.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Suicide in Schools provides school-based professionals with practical, easy-to-use guidance on developing and implementing effective suicide prevention, assessment, intervention and postvention strategies. Utilizing a multi-level systems approach, this book includes step-by-step guidelines for developing crisis teams and prevention programs, assessing and intervening with suicidal youth, and working with families and community organizations during and after a suicidal crisis. The authors include detailed case examples, innovative approaches for professional practice, usable handouts, and internet resources on the best practice approaches to effectively work with youth who are experiencing a suicidal crisis as well as those students, families, school staff, and community members who have suffered the loss of a loved one to suicide. Readers will come away from this book with clear, step-by-step guidelines on how to work proactively with school personnel and community professionals, think about suicide prevention from a three-tiered systems approach, how to identify those who might be at risk, and how to support survivors after a traumatic event--all in a practical, user-friendly format geared especially for the needs of school-based professionals.
