Citation

Stangeland T. Scandinavian Psychologist 2016; 3.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016)

DOI

10.15714/scandpsychol.3.e3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In cases influenced by elevated risk of suicide, the therapists' need to regulate their own sense of unease may overshadow the treatment needs of the adolescent. The field of acute psychiatric treatment must be informed by established theory of relational difficulty as well as new empirical knowledge of the patient group. The field should make explicit the therapists' needs to 1) make correct assessments, 2) demonstrate that they take their patients seriously, and 3) take over responsibility for adolescents who are unable to protect themselves from danger. The influence of these needs is demonstrated by clinical example drawn from the author's experience. There is a lack of systematic attention to the emotional reactions of the therapists and how these reactions impact decision making in treating suicidal adolescents. The Norwegian guidelines for suicide risk assessment provide help in counteracting suicide on an overall level. They may have been misunderstood by the clinical field as instructions to avert single cases of suicide. This misinterpretation is particularly problematic for patients suffering from chronic suicidality, where it and the focus on acute risk assessment may increase the therapists' sense of unease. The guidelines should be clarified to resolve this issue and encourage the field to stress therapeutic work with respect to chronic suicidality. © 2016, Psykologisk.no AS. All rights reserved.

Language: no

Keywords

Suicide risk; Guidelines; Chronic suicidality; Therapist needs