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Psychosocial treatments of suicidal behaviors: A practice‐friendly review
Author(s) -
Comtois Katherine Anne,
Linehan Marsha M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.20220
Subject(s) - psychosocial , dialectical behavior therapy , outreach , psychology , psychotherapist , suicide prevention , clinical psychology , psychological intervention , psychiatry , suicide attempt , poison control , medicine , borderline personality disorder , medical emergency , political science , law
Worldwide, almost a million people die by suicide each year. Intentional, nonfatal, self‐inflicted injury, including both suicide attempts and acts without suicide intent, also has very high prevalence. This article provides a practice‐friendly review of controlled studies of psychosocial treatments aiming to prevent suicide, attempted suicide, and nonsuicidal self‐inflicted injuries. Despite relatively small sample sizes for a low‐base‐rate outcome such as self‐inflicted injury, several psychotherapies have been found effective, including cognitive therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, problem‐solving therapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy, as well as outreach interventions, such as sending caring letters. The clinical implications of the review are discussed with the goal of translating the science to service—particularly the importance of outreach and treatment of non‐compliance, the assessment and management of suicide risk, and competency in effective psychotherapies. These are critical steps for clinical psychology and psychotherapists to take in their role in suicide prevention. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 62: 161–170, 2006.