mental health disorders
Suicidal Behavior
Management of Suicidal Behavior
Health care professionals take any suicidal act seriously. The plan for safety and treatment is customized to the person's situation. If people seriously injure themselves, doctors evaluate and treat the injury and typically admit the person to the hospital. If people have taken an overdose of a potentially lethal drug, doctors immediately take steps to prevent absorption of the drug and speed its elimination from the body. People are also given any available antidote and provided with supportive care, such as a breathing tube. After the initial evaluation, people who have attempted suicide are referred to a psychiatrist, who tries to identify problems that contributed to the attempt and plan appropriate treatment. To identify problems, psychiatrists do the following: Listen to the person's story and history leading up to the attempt or crisis Try to understand what some of the underlying risk factors for suicide are, what specific events led up to the attempt, and where and how it occurred Ask about symptoms of mental health conditions that may increase the risk of suicidal behavior Ask whether the person is being treated for a mental illness, including whether the person is taking any drugs to treat it, has been in therapy or any other treatment modalities Evaluate the person's mental state, looking for signs of depression, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, psychosis, severe insomnia, other mental illnesses, and alcohol or substance use Take a thorough medical and family history Ask about personal and family relationships as well as social networks, because they are often relevant to the suicide attempt and the follow-up treatment Talk to close family members and friends, and ask them about the person's use of alcohol, marijuana, pain medications or illicit drugs Help the person identify situations, events, places, thoughts, or emotional states that trigger thoughts of suicide and help the person plan ways to deal with the triggers Because depression increases the risk of suicidal behavior, doctors carefully monitor people with depression for suicidal behavior and thoughts. For people with Depression suicide risk can increase during periods when depression is more severe, as well as when several other risk factors are also present. Doctors may be able to treat depression effectively with medications and/or , antidepressants, and newer antipsychotics to treat Overview of Mood Disorders in people who are at risk of suicide may reduce the number of completed suicides. Treating The risk of suicide changes over time, with the most serious acute risk lasting from hours to days. In a majority of suicides, people had been seen in a variety of health care settings before their suicide, but their suicide risk was not detected. These findings highlight the importance of adopting public health strategies to reduce the risk of suicide in these people. For example, doctors should do the following: Routinely screen patients for suicidal thoughts, depression, and other symptoms of distress Use a caring, supportive, nonjudgmental response Provide interventions to ensure the person's safety, such as using a safety plan and counseling on lethal means Communicate with the person's family Other interventions that can reduce suicide risk in high-risk individuals include Behavioral therapy , 