Full Description
Worldwide, at least 1 million people die by suicide each year and many millions more attempt suicide. However, suicide has been increasingly recognised as a preventable problem in many cases. Because of this, and the rising rates of suicide in young people, many countries have established national suicide prevention strategies. These include the United Kingdom, the USA, Scandinavian countries, other countries in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. There is also increasing emphasis on the treatment of suicidal people and those who have made suicide attempts. In order to be effective it is imperative that strategies for treatment and prevention are based on sound scientific evidence.
In this book leading figures from psychiatry, psychology, epidemiology, public health, and social medicine bring together the research evidence concerning the key elements in suicide prevention and treatment of suicidal behaviour and translate it into implications for practical action. This includes social and public health policy as well as clinical practice. The book draws together the evidence relevant to treatment and prevention, and uses this in order to highlight the most effective approaches. The range of initiatives covered is wide, reflecting the complex nature of suicide and hence the need for a range of approaches. This book will be an essential source for anyone concerned with the design and implementation of effective suicide prevention strategies, including clinicians working with individual patients, strategic policy makers, and researchers.
Contents
1. Introduction and overview ; 2. Factors contributing to suicide: the epidemiological evidence from large-scale registers ; 3. Time trends and geographic differences in suicide: implications for prevention ; 4. Contextual effects in suicidal behaviour: evidence, exploration and implications ; 5. Psychology and suicidal behaviour: elaborating the entrapment model ; 6. Psychobiological approaches to the predisposition to suicidal behaviour: implications for treatment and prevention ; 7. Interplay of genes and environment as contributory factors to suicidal behaviour ; 8. Traumatic stress and suicidal behaviour: an important target for treatment and prevention ; 9. Making mental health services safer ; 10. Risk factors for suicidal behaviour: translating knowledge into practice ; 11. The burden of suicide and clinical suggestions for prevention ; 12. Psychosocial treatments following attempted suicide: evidence to inform clinical practice ; 13. Suicide in older people: determinants of risk and opportunities for prevention ; 14. The resistance of suicide: why have antidepressants not reduced suicide rates? ; 15. Substance use and suicidal behaviour: associations and implications for prevention ; 16. Restriction of access to methods of suicide as a means of suicide prevention ; 17. Media influences on suicidal behaviour: evidence and prevention ; 18. Suicide and suicide attempts in prisons ; 19. Volunteer perspectives on suicide prevention ; 20. Suicide survivorship: an unknown journey from loss to gain - from individual to global perspectives
