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Rating: 
Summary: Essential reading for all practicing clinicians
Review: The Suicidal Patient by Bruce Bongar provides a much-needed manual for all practicing clinicians. Why do I say all? Well, if you are a clinician the odds are that at some point in your career you will encounter a suicidal patient. In fact, according to Bongar, even "student therapists have a one in three chance of experiencing a patient suicide or suicide attempt during their training years." By taking a few simple precautions you can greatly minimize your chance of being sued. But, I believe, even more importantly, Bongar champions the idea that if you provide high quality care the odds of you being able to prevent a suicide dramatically increase. According to Bongar, high quality care happens when you have a real understanding of both clinical and legal issues and you apply this knowledge and tailor your approach to each individual. Obviously you're a therapist, and not a fortuneteller, and so mistakes will happen. Why not learn the basics ahead of time so that you don't make stupid mistakes? If you effectively deal with a suicidal patient, and he or she improves, then you may have just helped someone save his or her own life. I can't think of a better feeling than that, which is why Bongar provides you with a manual to effectively deal with the suicidal patient. Take responsibility for your practice and prepare for the worst because by doing so you may achieve the best outcome of all. With that said, I want to be clear about the format of this book. It is written for clinicians. If you are looking for a self-help book this is definitely not for you. Bongar is a therapy researcher and so like much therapy research the book is somewhat dry. This is to be expected since the list of citations alone span thirty-eight pages. The fact that all this voluminous literature has been synthesized into one book is impressive indeed and one only need consider how dry it would be to read all the primary sources to realize the service that this book provides. Specifically the book provides:
1. A history of suicide research and current theories and research in the field.
2. A comprehensive section on the legal issues involved in treating suicidal patients.
3. Many methods to assess patient risk including assessment protocols and case histories.
4. Best practices for treatment in both inpatient and outpatient settings
5. A section on risk management that includes suggestions for unfortunate event that the patient carries out a suicidal act.
Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for all practicing clinicians
Review: The Suicidal Patient by Bruce Bongar provides a much-needed manual for all practicing clinicians. Why do I say all? Well, if you are a clinician the odds are that at some point in your career you will encounter a suicidal patient. In fact, according to Bongar, even "student therapists have a one in three chance of experiencing a patient suicide or suicide attempt during their training years." By taking a few simple precautions you can greatly minimize your chance of being sued. But, I believe, even more importantly, Bongar champions the idea that if you provide high quality care the odds of you being able to prevent a suicide dramatically increase. According to Bongar, high quality care happens when you have a real understanding of both clinical and legal issues and you apply this knowledge and tailor your approach to each individual. Obviously you're a therapist, and not a fortuneteller, and so mistakes will happen. Why not learn the basics ahead of time so that you don't make stupid mistakes? If you effectively deal with a suicidal patient, and he or she improves, then you may have just helped someone save his or her own life. I can't think of a better feeling than that, which is why Bongar provides you with a manual to effectively deal with the suicidal patient. Take responsibility for your practice and prepare for the worst because by doing so you may achieve the best outcome of all. With that said, I want to be clear about the format of this book. It is written for clinicians. If you are looking for a self-help book this is definitely not for you. Bongar is a therapy researcher and so like much therapy research the book is somewhat dry. This is to be expected since the list of citations alone span thirty-eight pages. The fact that all this voluminous literature has been synthesized into one book is impressive indeed and one only need consider how dry it would be to read all the primary sources to realize the service that this book provides. Specifically the book provides:
1.A history of suicide research and current theories and research in the field.
2.A comprehensive section on the legal issues involved in treating suicidal patients.
3.Many methods to assess patient risk including assessment protocols and case histories.
4.Best practices for treatment in both inpatient and outpatient settings
5.A section on risk management that includes suggestions for unfortunate event that the patient carries out a suicidal act.
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