Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
PART I: ASSESSMENT
Chapter 1. Suicide Risk Assessment: A GATEWAY TO TREATMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Chapter 2. Enhancing Suicide Risk Assessment Through Evidence-Based Psychiatry
Chapter 3. Assessing and Enhancing Protective Factors Against Suicide Risk
Chapter 4. Behavioral Risk Assessment of the Guarded Suicidal Patient
Chapter 5. Psychiatric Disorders and Suicide Risk
Chapter 6. Sudden Improvement in Patients at High Risk for Suicide: REAL OR FEIGNED?
PART II: MANAGEMENT
Chapter 7. Patients at Acute and Chronic High Risk for Suicide: CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Chapter 8. Safety Management of the Patient at Risk for Suicide: COPING WITH UNCERTAINTY
Chapter 9. Gun Safety Management of Suicidal Patients: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH
Chapter 10. Suicide Risk Assessment Forms: CLINICIAN BEWARE
Chapter 11. Imminent Suicide, Passive Suicidal Ideation, and Other Intractable Myths
Chapter 12. Quality Assurance Review of Suicide Risk Assessments: REALITY AND REMEDY
Chapter 13. Therapeutic Risk Management of the Patient at Risk for Suicide: CLINICAL-LEGAL DILEMMAS
Appendix: Suicide Risk Assessment Self-Test
Index

About the Author

Robert I. Simon, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Program in Psychiatry and Law in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He is also Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Suburban Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Reviews

I have reviewed a number of Dr. Simon's books, at least a few of which involve the topic of suicide (i.e.The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Suicide Assessment and Management (American Psychiatric Publishing, 2006)), and this one is an excellent source of information, not only for those new to seeing patients in mental healthcare settings, but also for veteran clinicians. Chapters are relatively brief, but contain volumes of evidence-based data meant to improve a clinician's knowledge, with the added benefit of improving patient safety. The chapter regarding suicide risk assessment forms is vital, and the chapters outlining a complete suicide risk assessment (i.e. including assessing positive factors against suicide risk) are very well done. Overall, this is an outstanding book typical of Dr. Simon's efforts.

Simon wades through the wealth of research on risk and protective factors with impressive agility, providing a heuristic checklist of individual, clinical, situational, interpersonal, and demographic factors to assess. More than this, he highlights the central importance of the therapeutic relationship as an agent of risk management and adaptive change.

This book is an excellent source of information, not only for those new to seeing patients in mental healthcare settings, but also for veteran clinicians. Chapters are relatively brief, but contain volumes of evidence-based data meant to improve a clinician's knowledge, with the added benefit of improving patient safety. The chapter regarding suicide risk assessment forms is vital, and the chapters outlining a complete suicide risk assessment (i.e. including assessing positive factors against suicide risk) are very well done. Overall, this is an outstanding book typical of Dr. Simon's efforts.