Suicide: Clinical/Risk Management Issues for Psychiatrists

Abstract

The materials in the following section are speaker comments from an educational symposium entitled Suicide: Clinical/Risk Management Issues for Psychiatrists sponsored by the American Psychiatric Association, May 16, 1999. The program chairpersons were Drs. Douglas Jacobs and Ross J. Baldessarini. The symposium was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Solvay Pharmaceuticals.The symposium focused on critical clinical and risk management issues about suicide as they impact clinical practice. Dr. Douglas G. Jacobs presented a suicide assessment protocol with suggestions on how to include current understanding about suicide in treatment planning. Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison reviewed bipolar disorder with an emphasis on early diagnosis, aggressive treatment, and the phenomenology of suicidal behavior. Dr. Ross J. Baldessarini discussed the lethality of bipolar depression and the effectiveness of lithium maintenance therapy to limit bipolar depression and reduce suicide risk. Dr. Jan A. Fawcett presented four clinical profiles of completed suicide and reviewed suggested treatment approaches appropriate for each that may help psychiatrists reduce the risk of suicide among their patients. Dr. Herbert Hendin explored the role psychiatrists play in performing comprehensive assessments of patients who request assisted suicide. Finally, Dr. Thomas G. Gutheil reviewed the basis for malpractice litigation and provided guidelines for preventing liability following a patient's suicide.