ment of psychological treatments for these conditions was in its infancy and Peter was considered an innovator in this field. Peter provides clinical supervision for mental health practitioners, is a sought after presenter and has experience providing expert opinion in the media. In recognition of his experience treating mood disorders he has been asked to take on a role at the Black Dog Institute in 2013.
Jay Spence – Clinical Psychologist and PhD Candidate
Who wouldn’t want to keep another safe from the self-destructive thoughts of suicide? To support another through the darkest time in their life is a very human thing to do; however, what you may not know is that it is might be impossible to tell if someone will attempt suicide.
Suicide screening is where people use all kinds of methods like questionnaires and interviews to try to tell if someone is at serious risk of committing suicide. There are dozens and dozens of techniques, but very few of them work well. Plus, those that do are not very accurate.
How do we know this? Findings on suicide screening are based on three systematic reviews that were published in the last decade. A systematic review is where a group of scientists read through all the research papers on a topic like suicide prevention. They look at all the individual findings together and come up with a conclusion based only on the facts they have. Reviews are important in research because they offer the best chance to really understand what works and what doesn’t for something as important as suicide prevention.
One of these reviews said that almost all of the screening tools for suicide were inaccurate with the exception of the ‘Beck Hopelessness Scale’ and the ‘Scale for Suicidal Ideation.’ Even these scales were not particularly good at being able to tell if someone would harm themselves. Although all three reviews said that there were lots of screening tools that were promising for children, adolescents and adults, there was no conclusive evidence to say that they work. This isn’t saying that none of them work, only that we don’t know yet.
One of the reviews listed all of the things that mean that people are at higher risk of attempting suicide. These include:
1. Have they attempted to hurt themselves before?
2. Are they depressed?
3. Do they have schizophrenia or psychosis?
4. Do they have a history of mental health problems?
5. Are they drinking a lot?
6. Are they unemployed or very sick?
7. Are they young adults or teenagers?
Unfortunately, individuals that are within these groups are more at risk than other people. These issues also mean that people are more at risk of self-harm, such as cutting, burning or hurting themselves, as well as suicide.
Safety planning is still important because it gives people tools and resources to get through very difficult periods of depression. Just because we can’t tell who might attempt suicide doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to help people who are thinking about suicide by offering them whatever we can. The hallmark of suicide is loss of hope. Unfortunately, the brain chemistry and thinking caused by depression mean that many suicidal people can’t comprehend hope until they get proper treatment. At those times keeping people safe may be what’s needed. There are people that can help with this including local mental health teams, GPs, psychologists and psychiatrists. The best place to start is by calling Lifeline (13 11 14) to talk to someone about the resources available in your area.
Jay Spence is a Clinical Psychologist and PhD candidate who specialises in adult and adolescent mental health. He was joint recipient of the Gold Prize at the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Service Achievement Awards (2010) and of the St Vincent’s Health Australia National Invention and Innovation Award (2010) and was the recipient of the 2011 New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry Fellowship. He has published numerous papers on the treatment of post-traumatic stress, social phobia, and panic, as well as generalized anxiety and transdiagnostic anxiety processes. He 