Understanding and Preventing Suicide: The Development of Self-Destructive Patterns and Ways to Alter Them

Understanding and Preventing Suicide: The Development of Self-Destructive Patterns and Ways to Alter Them
ISBN-10
0313355312
ISBN-13
9780313355318
Series
Understanding and Preventing Suicide
Category
Psychology
Pages
170
Language
English
Published
2009-03-20
Publisher
ABC-CLIO
Author
Kristine Bertini

Description

Every 18 minutes, there is a suicide attempt somewhere in the United States, with some 30,000 of those resulting in completed suicide each year. Worldwide, there are more than 1 million suicides annually. We know the basic facts: Most of the people were depressed or suffered another mental illness, and many were facing stressful life events with which they could not cope. But is there no way to prevent the tragedy? Author Kristine Bertini, a clinical psychologist, says one of the most effective means may be to understand first how suicidal tendencies and thinking develop, how environment, biology, culture, and societal factors all play a role in predisposing some people to give up hope and see death as the only way to end their suffering. In this book, Bertini explains the development of suicidal thinking and, through patient vignettes, illustrates the ways this thinking develops. She also describes and illustrates signals friends and loved ones as well as professionals can watch for pointing to such thinking, which may be kept secretive by the person at risk, as well as approaches that can be used to alter tendencies and thinking for the person at risk.

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