Intervening with suicidal patients
Thank you for the excellent article "What Should You Do If a Case Is Outside Your Skill Set?" (May 2018). I take issue with one statement in the article, nonetheless. The article states, "It's also important to know that clients with certain symptoms, behaviors and diagnoses are more likely to be outside a typical practitioner's scope of practice than others. Examples include people with suicidal tendencies…."
However, people with suicidal tendencies should not be outside the scope of practice of the typical practitioner. Suicidal tendencies are common and occur in many patients across diagnostic categories. Within community dwelling adults in the United States, 26 percent of those with major depression had suicidal thoughts and 11 percent of those with substance use disorders had suicidal thoughts (Han, McKeon & Gfroerer, 2014).
Suicidal thoughts are also common among patients with bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and other diagnoses. My own data showed that 88 percent of practicing psychologists had treated at least one suicidal patient in the last year (Knapp & Leitzel, 2017). The ability to assess and intervene with suicidal patients should not be a specialty skill, but an essential skill that should be expected for all psychologists who deliver mental health or health-care services.
Samuel Knapp, EdD
Sunnyvale, California
Our favorite tweets
Re "Adventures in Integrated Care: Team Care for Children With Brain Tumors" (April)
@mhill226 Great article in @APA_Monitor highlighting my colleagues' impressive psychology research and care for kids with brain tumors at @TexasChildrens @bcmhouston
@MarinaGalante14 There's something relaxing about sitting down with my @APA_Monitor and working on my professional development #PhD #Psychology
Send letters to APA Monitor on Psychology Editor Sara Martin at smartin@apa.org. Letters should be limited to 175 words and may be edited for space and clarity.
