Customer Reviews

How to Identify Suicidal People: A Systematic Approach to Risk Assessment

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dr. Tom White offers a persuasive view in how to properly evaluate suicide risk by using a systematic approach. As a former colleague of mine, I expected Dr. White to write an excellent book on this topic; because, as part of his job, before he retired, he reconstructed what led up to inmate suicides in the North Central Region for the U.S. Department of Justice/Federal Bureau of Prisons. Therefore, he, more than most, was able to see what was missed by the evaluating clinician and other staff. His book was interesting, well-written, and useful. It serves to remind the evaluating clinican to cover all the bases when conducting a suicide assessment.

Dr. White's book is a neccesary read for all clinicians but is most important as a textbook for graduate psychology students. As practitioners, all of us realize that academic training in this vital area is lacking. Dr. White's book has consolidated the state of the art and then formulated the components needed for a thorough assessment process which also provides potential legal protection for the clinician. This is not a self-help book for the suicidal and depressed, it is not a therapy guide, it is an evaluative process description that serves very well in real world applications. My graduate students will be better prepared to handle the assessment of suicidal people by the time we have finished the book and course.

I found this resource to be a comprehensive review of etiology and prediction. Thoughtful, concise; a good resource for Court testimony and the implications therein.

I am a psychologist who teaches about suicide prevention issues to other mental health professionals. Since reading this book I have begun using Dr. White's highly organized and structured system to teach my students how to do comprehensive, thorough, and legally defensible suicide risk assessments in the clinical settings they work in. It is a great resource for any professional or paraprofessional in mental health who wants to learn more about suicide prevention - it is well-written and very "user friendly".

This is probably the most practical book on the subject of suicide assessment that I have seen. It is an excellent resource for anyone who makes decisions about suicide risk and wants to sleep more soundly at night. The HELPER Model provides a great basis for training staff. I highly recommend this book!!!

For mental health professionals who work with suicidal individuals, there is no worse feeling than wondering if you've made "the right call"--especially if you've sent the client home with very little other than their promise not to hurt themselves. The book Dr. White has written and the HELPER model he developed broadened my understanding of suicidal people and provided me a sound/defensible system for making decisions regarding the treatment/management of suicidal individuals. I strongly recommend this easy-to-read, practical book to all who work with suicidal individuals in clinical practice.

The suicide risk assessment model presented in this book is straight-forward, simple and comprehensive. It clearly defines suicide risk factors, presents relevant research findings in an easy to read fashion, and provides the health care practitioner with a format for efficiently conducting a thorough suicide risk assessment. The book is written in an easy-to-read format and is appropriate for a wide range of health care professionals including physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and counselors.

Dr White has done an exceptional job in presenting a complex topic in such a helpful way.

I am a graduate student about to be thrust from the world of theory to the world of practice. When faced with practice, it is intimidating that the mistakes you make will sometimes deeply impact the wellbeing of others, but nowhere greater than in the subject of suicide. I took it upon myself to do further homework and ordered this book based on the reviews and descriptions. I would like to thank the instructors who posted that they use it for their classroom; I agree with the book and with the other reviewers that there is a lack of education with regard to suicide for students beyond some overall risk factors and general interventions. I found this book to tie together the database of knowledge regarding suicide in a systematic way for assessing suicidal risk. While I read other books as well, which delved deeper into detail of risks and protective factors, I found this approach tied the information together in a comprehensive and approachable manner. The references to legality, while when dealing with suicide may appear callous, is no less the reality of the medical environment as well as good practice policy to make sure you are covering those bases for your sake and for the sake of the patient. As the book, and other people, point out there is no real practice policy, guidelines, or definitive "rules" to follow as of right now which can pose difficulties, particularly for those (like me) just starting out and do not want to cause damage (to a person or legally). For those looking for a mathematical calculation of risk, the reality is that human behavior does not often provide that. The information we have on suicide is fraught with imperfection, for obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean that making an effort at using what we DO have is bad. I was almost deterred from purchasing this book after reading one of the negative reviews, but after having read the book, I disagree with the validity of the complaint. If you have a realistic expectation of what to expect from a book regarding how to assess suicide, I believe this book will be beneficial.
I also found Kay Jamison's "Night Falls Fast" to be a good starting place for understanding suicide which similarly touches on risk factors, protective factors, etc.

As a public health professional and father of a recent suicide attempter, I find this book a slap in the face to all those troubled with suicide.

First, the book treats suicide as an "occupational hazard" to health care providers (p. 2 and see other reviews), without showing any empathy or understanding of the real pain that leads to suicidal people to suicide.

Second, the book provides no empirical studies to suggest that the "systematic" approach proposed is accurate (sensitive or specific). In fact the author includes a clear disclaimer (p. iv), stating, "the assessment system presented in this book should be considered only as a guideline".

Third, the book offers no objective way to convert data about a person into an assessment of suicide risk. The Chapters on data collection are long (pp. 23-110), but the chapter on turning the data into conclusions is short (pp. 111-121). Moreover, many of these pages are spent on more disclaimers (pp. 111-116). The author suggests classifying risk into a few levels, but only based on very subjective criteria. Then the book returns to describing how to report the data and legal liability issues for the health care provider (pp. 123-159).

If you are a malpractice lawyer looking for a case, find someone who used this book to assess a patient as low risk, where the patient shortly thereafter committed suicide. Note that the author encourages the assessor not to "overestimate" risk (p. 119). Note the issues 1st thru 3rd issues raised above. Then file your case, and collect big time from the author and the person who assessed the risk.

Professionals who rely on this book to sleep better at night (as the author and reviewers suggest) should carefully consider the author's disclaimers and recognize that this book offers no emperical evidence that it will help you do what the title promises. The book offers no evidence that its use will "identify suicidal people".