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

Rating:
Summary: Father of a recent suicide attempter
Review: 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".

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Summary: How to conduct a proper suicide evaluation
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: How to conduct a proper suicide evaluation
Review: 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.

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Summary: Clinician Using the Book as a Textbook for Graduate Students
Review: 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.