Crisis Counselors Use Safety Planning to Prevent Suicide

Crisis hotlines are one of the oldest suicide prevention resources and are often the only intervention for many suicidal individuals given their unwillingness to seek treatment or the unavailability of treatment. Therefore, maximizing the clinical utility of hotline calls is imperative for suicide prevention efforts. Dr. Barbara Stanley used her AFSP Distinguished Investigator grant to do just that.

Barbara Stanley, PhD talks Safety Planning from AFSP on Vimeo.

The current study assessed the effectiveness of implementing a Safety Planning Intervention (SPI) into crisis calls. SPI is an evidence-based clinical intervention that can greatly reduce suicide risk. Read article here.

Suicide Risk Assessment in the VHA

The recent article in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry “Suicide Risk Assessment Received Prior to Suicide Death by Veterans Health Administration Patients with a History of Depression” revealed several important findings. Among Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients with a history of depression from 1999 to 2004, 74% of patients who died by suicide had received an assessment of suicidal ideation in the year prior to suicide,1 and this rate was achieved prior to the major initiatives that VHA has put in place over the last 7 years emphasizing suicide risk assessment and prevention. However, only 30% of patients with depression or a history of depression received such an assessment at a time that it might have been especially important—the last health care visit. Furthermore, of those assessed, 85% denied suicidal ideation when asked, and a similar proportion (>70%) denied suicidal ideation even when asked within 7 days of their impending suicide death. Read article here.

Understanding Recent Changes in Suicide Rates Among the Middle-Aged

While suicide is relatively uncommon, the suicide rate for middle aged white men has gone up since 1979, and the same is true for middle aged white women since 2000. Is it something about “baby boomers,” middle age or both? It turns out that this group of “baby boomers” has had higher rates of suicide across their lives. Being unmarried and not having a college degree added risk. According to Dr. Julie Phillips, this group of middle-aged adults is different from earlier groups. Read article here.

Gatekeeper-trainings on Campus: Challenges and Opportunities

There is a real challenge in evaluating programs like gatekeeper training. The first issue is how to define success or impact of the program. Read article here.

Increase Mental Health Services on Campus

According to a 2012 survey from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 62% of students with mental health problems who withdraw from college decide to leave because of those problems. “That percentage is a sign that we’re not doing a very good job for some students,” said Darcy Guttadaro, the director of the Child and Adolescent Action Center at NAMI, in Inside Higher Ed. “It’s no longer OK for schools to just not address [mental health] issues.” Read article here.

College Students Speak: A Survey Report on Mental Health

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) conducted a national survey of college students living with mental health conditions to learn about their experiences in school. NAMI designed the survey to hear directly from students about whether schools are meeting their needs and what improvements are needed to support their academic experience. Read article here.

Problems in School May Be a Sign of Depression

Academic decline, or problems in school, may be a sign of depression in some children. Of course, not all problems in school are linked to depression, and not all depressed children have significant problems in school, either.

How Does Depression Interfere With Academic Performance? Read article here.

NFL Life Line: Confidential Support, Assistance, and Hope

If you are a member of the NFL family and are experiencing a personal or emotional crisis, you can talk to someone right now at (800) 506-0078. Trained, professional counselors are standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s free, confidential support for the entire NFL family—current and former players, coaches, team and league staff, and their family members. It’s independent. The NFL Life Line is operated by the leading national providers of crisis counseling services and is entirely independent of NFL staff.

No confidential information about individual calls or callers is shared with the NFL, its teams, or any other organization. Read more here.

Why Childhood Suffering Can Lead to Depression—And Even Addiction

It has long been established that childhood trauma increases a person’s risk for developing depression and addiction later in life. Now, a small study of teens from the University of Texas offers one possible explanation. The findings reveal that childhood suffering triggers a disruption in particular neural networks, which are linked to a greater chance of developing substance abuse problems, depression, or both in teens. Read article here.

Dogs: A Medicine for Mental Health Problems?

A growing number of Americans are getting dogs for mental health needs, experts say. In the case of psychiatric service animals, they are trained specifically to help people with mental illnesses. Read article here.