Bryant, C. E., & Harder, J. (2008). Treating suicidality in african american adolescents with cognitive-behavioral therapy. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 25(1), 1-9. doi:10.1007/s10560-007-0100-2
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for preventing and treating suicidality in African American adolescents, a population where the effectiveness of CBT has not been thoroughly evaluated for effectiveness. The authors begin the article by discussing the prevalence rate of suicide in adolescents along with risk factors that contribute to suicidality in African American adolescents (e.g., mental illness, access to guns, previous exposure to suicidal behavior, and impulsivity). Also, the authors discuss suicide prevention options that are available for adolescents, including suicide awareness training in schools, screening for suicidal ideation and depression, learning how to identify suicide risk factors and providing resources for suicidal adolescents, and promoting social support. However, these preventative measures have never been studied with African American adolescents and more research is needed to better serve this population. This article was one of the first to specifically address how suicide prevention efforts with CBT will hopefully benefit this population.
After the authors provided an explanation of the risk factors for suicidality and previous research for prevention options for adolescents, they present a review of past literature that has examined if CBT is an effective option for treating depression and suicidality in adolescents. Overall, the existing literature at the time had mixed findings and the effectiveness of this treatment could not be determined with adolescent populations. Additionally, there were very few studies that included diverse populations in their samples. While these limitations exist, the authors believe that CBT can be beneficial for treating suicidality in African American adolescents. Some of their reasons for this are that previous research has determined that CBT is effective in treating depression and suicidal symptoms in adults, it empowers clients to take control in how they experience therapy, and CBT promotes thought and mood regulation. Overall, despite the conflicting literature, the authors made an effective argument for the use of CBT as a preventative measure for suicide in African American adolescents and highlights the importance of conducting additional research with this diverse population.
I believe that this article is important because it was one of the first to address the lack of research involving suicide prevention in African American adolescents. Suicide rates are on the rise with each passing year and more action is needed to reduce these rates. Even though the authors of this article determined that the effectiveness of CBT with this population was inconclusive, I believe that CBT has some strategies that could be effective for preventing suicide. For example, the authors discussed how CBT allows the client to have a strong voice in therapy and they get to determine how they experience therapy. This could be very helpful for an adolescent who might feel hopeless, depressed, and/or discriminated against in other settings. This would especially be helpful today with the emphasis MSW programs place on diversity and cultural competence. CBT can be used with a variety of populations because social workers and other professionals are more well-versed and prepared to serve diverse populations. Overall, the authors presented a strong argument for using CBT to treat suicidality in diverse populations and additional techniques can be explored in future research to reduce suicide rates.
Kim, Y. J., Moon, S. S., & Kim, M. J. (2011). Physical and psycho-social predictors of adolescents’ suicide behaviors. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 28(6), 421-438. doi:10.1007/s10560-011-0241-1
The authors of this article intended to identify and understand possible predictors of suicide in adolescents. Some of the physical and psychological predictors in question are depression, weight control, substance use, and risky sex behaviors. These predictors were determined from an extensive review of existing literature that discussed the prevalence of these behaviors in adolescents and found that they are related to suicide. After the authors reviewed various theories that could explain why adolescents engage in these behaviors, they hypothesized that adolescents with greater reports of depression, substance use, poor body image, and risky sexual behavior would either predict or be correlated with greater reports of suicidal behavior.
A survey was administered to an ethnically diverse and gender representative sample of 11,134 students across a variety of high schools in the United States. Within this survey, the authors included questions asking about suicidal behaviors, depression ratings, substance use frequency, attitudes about weight, and risky sexual behaviors within the past year. The results showed that all of the authors’ hypotheses were true. Also, the authors found that female adolescents were more likely to engage in suicidal behaviors than men. Grade level was also negatively correlated with suicidal behaviors. While these are important findings, the authors identified some limitations that exist, like relying on self-report and the sample excluded adolescents who are not in a high school (e.g., drop outs and homeschooled students). Overall, these findings have strong implications for social workers and can help them identify symptoms of suicidal ideation and teach coping skills to adolescents at risk of suicide.
The findings in this article are absolutely necessary for social workers to be aware of so they can engage in effective clinical practice with adolescents. Mental health symptoms like depression and substance use are very common issues that adolescents face and social workers must know how to identify these issues. Also, this article can provide valuable insight for social workers to properly assess suicidal behavior in adolescents. For example, if a social worker is working with a client that is struggling with an eating disorder, they can ask questions alluding to suicidal behaviors. This will help the social worker determine if the client is a potential threat to themselves and then they can develop a safety plan, if needed. Knowing when to intervene with a suicidal adolescent is critical for suicide prevention and social workers must be trained to identify the predictors of suicide that are address in this article.
Parrish, M., & Tunkle, J. (2005). Clinical challenges following an adolescent's death by suicide: Bereavement issues faced by family, friends, schools, and clinicians. Clinical Social Work Journal, 33(1), 81-102. doi:10.1007/s10615-005-2621-5
This article is intended to address the issues that individuals in a community (e.g., family members, friends, school employees, and clinical social workers) might face following a loved one committing suicide. The authors identified some of these issues as feelings of guilt, seeking support, and treating adolescents who have been personally affected by suicide. These issues are important because suicide is on the rise not only in adolescents, but in adults and diverse populations as well. In addition to clinical predictors of suicide (e.g., depression and substance use), the authors presented some predictors that relate to family issues, like divorce and a history of suicidality in other family members. After trends and predictors of suicide were discussed, the authors presented a case scenario to help apply some of the concepts they discussed in the latter half of the article.
The case scenario presented in this article was about a college-aged sophomore named Patsy, who had been struggling with parental disapproval, academic stress, and depression. Her body was found by a family member in her dorm after committing suicide by gunshot. This scenario is very common for family members and the authors discussed many common consequences (e.g., feelings of guilt and anger and increased risk for family members and peers to commit suicide) that can result from this situation. Along with these issues that clinical social workers must address, the authors discussed how adolescents are not as likely to reach out for help after the death of a friend. Clinical social workers must be available in schools and learn how to identify predictors of suicide so individuals affected by suicide will not be as likely to commit it. Overall, this article has critical implications for social workers to support individuals in need and make these resources accessible to further prevent suicide.
Clinical social workers are some of the greatest resources in high schools and they must be trained to identify predictors of suicide and implement various strategies that are discussed in this article. For example, some of the consequences of an adolescent’s suicide include close friend’s attempting suicide shortly after they find out. Clinical social workers can play a role in preventing this by meeting with the adolescent individual’s friends to conduct a suicide assessment, listen to their thoughts, understand their emotions, and create a safety plan, if necessary. This is critical for social workers because, according to the authors, adolescents are not as likely to reach out for help as adults. Overall, this article has vital implications and tips for social workers to intervene with family members and friends in a timely manner and work towards preventing suicide in both adolescents and adults.
Singer, J. B., O’Brien, K. H. M., & LeCloux, M. (2017). Three psychotherapies for suicidal adolescents: Overview of conceptual frameworks and intervention techniques. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 34(2), 95-106. doi:10.1007/s10560-016-0453-5
This article discusses three evidence-based therapies that are successful for treating suicidality in adolescents. Specifically, the three therapies are Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT), Integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A). The authors provide an elaborate procedure for how they searched for these evidence-based practices and outline their exclusion criteria for narrowing down the numerous therapies to the three discussed in this article. Also, the importance of theory in relation to informing practice is emphasized by the authors because social workers must be well-versed in both to effectively provide therapy. Most of the paper is dedicated to describing the theoretical framework that makes up these therapies along with the techniques that are needed to effectively deliver them to treat suicidality in adolescent clients.
All three of the psychotherapies are discussed in detail throughout much of the article. In addition to theoretical framework and techniques, treating the specific predictors and risk factors for suicidal behavior are addressed. For example, in the DBT section, the authors discuss how this therapy is used to help promote emotion regulation and coping skills in adolescent clients. Once the authors provided a detail elaboration of each psychotherapy, they provided recommendations for training social workers in these therapies. Due to these therapy trainings being expensive, the authors recommend that MSW programs should offer electives in each therapy so students can receive more affordable training to better treat suicidal adolescents. Overall, the authors provide an effective argument for the use of these evidence-based treatments and highlight possible methods for training clinical social workers to use these practices.
The authors of this article provide a great overview of how evidence-based psychotherapy can be used to treat suicidality in adolescents. They thoroughly describe the theoretical base for each therapy along with how practice techniques can be used to treat adolescents at risk of suicide. These therapies are important for clinical social work because they can help social workers identify risk factors for suicide. Also, these therapies are evidence-based and if delivered correctly, can be highly effective in preventing suicide. However, training social workers to be well-versed in these therapies can be time consuming, so it might be more practical for social workers to be trained in one or two therapy styles. If one of these models of practice is not quite working for the client, the social worker can try and incorporate techniques from other therapies to effectively treat the client. These psychotherapies can be great tools in identifying the needs of the client and allows for them to customize their therapeutic experience.
Slovak, K., & Singer, J. B. (2012). Engaging parents of suicidal youth in a rural environment. Child & Family Social Work, 17(2), 212-221. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00826.x
This article focuses on how counselors in rural communities engage parents in the lives of their children after a suicide assessment is conducted. The authors identify family involvement as a critical process for adolescents due to the high rates of adolescent suicide and easy access to guns in rural areas. In this study, the authors recruited a small sample of clinical mental health counselors from the midwestern United States to participate in qualitative interviews. These interviews included questions regarding how the counselor interacts with a parent of an adolescent client and what a typical interaction looks like with the parent. After the authors conducted the interviews with the counselors, they were able to identify five common themes, which are addressed in the remainder of the article.
The five themes that the authors identified in a counselor’s interaction with a parent after a suicide assessment are disclosing that the child is at risk for suicide, responding to parents reactions, joining the parent with support, helping the parent make a safety plan, and addressing rural gun culture and safety. The authors describe each of these themes in detail and present direct quotes from the participants in this study. Once these findings are addressed, they are further explored in Staudt’s conceptual framework of engagement with caregivers of children at risk of suicide. The three concepts discussed in this framework include behavioral, attitudinal, and how to integrate these concepts in practice with parents. Each theme is applied to these concepts and the authors conclude with some limitations to their study, including that they need to interview parents of children at risk of suicide. Overall, the authors presented a variety of ways for clinical mental health workers to involve parents in the lives of children exhibiting suicidal behavior and they have many implications for practice.
One important aspect of this article that the authors repeatedly bring attention to is how adolescents are not likely to reach out for mental health services if they feel suicidal. If these youth decide to not reach out, they might feel more comfortable with seeking support from a parent or guardian. This is very important for clinical social workers to emphasize when working with suicidal adolescents and can potentially prevent suicide. While this article has important implications for social workers engaging with parents, the authors discuss one important of their limitation to their study that needs to be addressed, which is the lack of parent interviews. These strategies can be implemented by clinical social workers, but they need to understand what will work best for the parent. In practice, the clinical social worker must be mindful of the parent’s mental state and preferences in an effort properly address the safety risk their child might be in. Despite the limitations to this study, it emphasizes the importance of parents need to be aware of how their child is feeling and implementing a safety plan, if necessary.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
This National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website is an immediate resource for any individual that might be contemplating suicide. On the homepage, a telephone number can be found for anyone that needs to receive immediate assistance in a crisis situation at any moment in time. Also, there is an option online for people to instant message a crisis counselor if they do not feel comfortable with talking on the phone. For each communication option, there is a brief description available that provides an overview of what procedures take place so people can know what to expect before talking to a crisis counselor. The creators and editors of the website use comforting and appropriate language throughout for the person in distress to feel reassured that they are making a good decision to call the crisis lifeline for any reason that they see fit.
In addition to making a suicide lifeline accessible, this website includes detailed information about the risk factors and warning signs of suicide. Also, there are personal stories from individuals who attempted suicide for various reasons. There are many stories to read and individuals can seek support and comfort in knowing that they are not alone. More preventative resources are available including brochures about suicide and strategies for trustworthy friends and family members of an individual at risk of suicide to be supportive. Overall, this website is an integrative resource for anyone that might be contemplating suicide or has attempted suicide in the past.
This website is an important resource for clinical social workers to be familiar with. When creating a safety plan for a client that might be at risk of suicide, the clinical social worker should always include this website and the telephone number. This is a vital resource for clients that might experience a crisis situation after a session and the social worker is not immediately available to talk with. For example, if a client feels depressed and overwhelmed late at night and needs someone to talk to immediately, they can easily have access to a crisis counselor. This would be a better option rather than waiting until the next day to speak with their social worker. Also, this could be a great resource for parents and friends who are involved in the lives of an individual at risk of suicide. They could learn more about the warning signs of suicide and know how to address them. Any resource on this website could be beneficial and critical for saving someone’s life.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://afsp.org
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website is a leading resource that stresses the importance of advocacy and being involved to prevent suicide. Anyone can sign-up and be a suicide prevention advocate. As a volunteer, individuals will become educated about mental health along with being involved with congress to voice opinions about policy reform. While this website does provide resources for individuals that are considering suicide (e.g., the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline), it is also a great resource for individuals that have been personally affected by suicide. Many people that have been affected by someone in their lives that has either attempted or committed suicide can learn how to recovery and reach out for support.
This website is a great resource for anyone that might be interested in learning more about suicide. Along with risk factors and warning signs, statistics, news, and current research is available for access. Part of the research that is available includes treatment options for individuals that have attempted suicide. Some of these treatments include evidence-based psychotherapies and treatments for a variety of mental health diagnoses. This could be a great resource for people at risk of suicide because they might not know how to reach out for help. While more efforts need to be made to help individuals access care for suicide prevention, this website is a great source for anyone that wants to become educated about suicide and participate in prevention efforts.
Clinical social workers can inform their clients and parents of clients about this website as an effort to prevent suicide. This resource would be especially helpful for parents that might have difficulties with understanding why their child might be feeling suicidal. For example, the parent could explore the website and learn about the predictors of suicide in adolescents. The language the editors of this website use to describe these risk factors is easy to understand. Also, the parent might feel more comfortable with doing this research on their own after they have been told their child is at risk of suicide rather than in the moment. They might be overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions and need additional time to comprehend this news. Also, at a macro level, clinical social workers can use this resource themselves and learn additional information about how to advocate for suicide prevention. One example could be arguing for the inclusion of suicide prevention trainings in schools and universities for students and staff members. Overall, this resource is a readily accessible and can be used to educate more people about how to prevent suicide.
Suicide Prevention Resource Center. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center website is a powerful education tool for individuals that want to learn more about suicide or have been personally affected themselves. Individuals can begin by reviewing the definitions for suicide-related terms and learning about how different populations are affected. Specific risk factors of suicide, warning signs, and treatment options are discussed in detail for diverse populations (e.g., ethnic groups, LGBTQ, adolescents, men, and veterans). In addition to knowing these risk factors, users can take online self-paced courses to learn more about suicide and preventative measures. These are just some of the many resources that exist at the individual level.
This website includes resources that are available for various organizations including state and community partnerships along with universities. These organizations can participate in online virtual labs, where they can learn how to participate in suicide prevention efforts. Also, resources exist for mental health professionals including information about suicide assessment and evidence-based practices used to treat suicidality in a variety of population. This website emphasizes the importance of cultural competence in any interaction with individuals at risk of suicide. For example, some of the information available presents how a clinician should effectively treat a client who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Overall, this website provides great resources for at a variety of levels in a community and stresses the importance of being culturally competent in supporting and treating individuals at risk of suicide.
While this website is a great resource for individuals that are seeking guidance to help someone in their life that might be affected by suicide, the website is not very user friendly. For example, some of the terms relating to suicide that are described contain scientific language that might be difficult for some individuals to understand. While this might be a helpful resource for some people, it can be even more helpful if used by a clinical social worker. Trainings exist for mental health professionals, which include assessing and managing suicidality in individuals. This could be helpful for clinical social workers who need more training in assessing suicide risk or are not too comfortable with treating these clients. This could also be effective for MSW students to be introduced to what assessing suicide looks like. Also, cultural competence is stressed on multiple pages throughout the website. Clinical social workers can receive more training in providing culturally competent care to diverse populations and make them feel comfortable. Hopefully, this could help adolescents seek help or continue receiving help if they are having thoughts of suicide.
References
Bryant, C. E., & Harder, J. (2008). Treating suicidality in african american adolescents with cognitive-behavioral therapy. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 25(1), 1-9. doi:10.1007/s10560-007-0100-2
Kim, Y. J., Moon, S. S., & Kim, M. J. (2011). Physical and psycho-social predictors of adolescents’ suicide behaviors. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 28(6), 421-438. doi:10.1007/s10560-011-0241-1
Parrish, M., & Tunkle, J. (2005). Clinical challenges following an adolescent's death by suicide: Bereavement issues faced by family, friends, schools, and clinicians. Clinical Social Work Journal, 33(1), 81-102. doi:10.1007/s10615-005-2621-5
Singer, J. B., O’Brien, K. H. M., & LeCloux, M. (2017). Three psychotherapies for suicidal adolescents: Overview of conceptual frameworks and intervention techniques. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 34(2), 95-106. doi:10.1007/s10560-016-0453-5
Slovak, K., & Singer, J. B. (2012). Engaging parents of suicidal youth in a rural environment. Child & Family Social Work, 17(2), 212-221. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00826.x
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://afsp.org
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Suicide Prevention Resource Center. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from