Brief New Treatment for Suicide Attempts

A patient-centered, 3-session intervention that calls for videotaping the narrative story of a patient's suicide attempt, in his/her own words (session 1); reviewing segments of the tape to arrive at a shared understanding of the attempt and the sequence of events that led to it (session 2); and using this information, along with a homework task completed by the patient in-between sessions, in order to develop a collaborative, comprehensive written safety plan that addresses the patient's unique vulnerabilities (session 3).

Safety procedures' control intervention. For these procedures we will share summary results of the research assessments regarding suicidal thoughts, suicidal behaviors, alcohol and drug use and related problems, and depressive symptoms with appropriate hospital clinical staff. We will also arrange to send this information, with participants' permission, to their ongoing therapist or treatment program and, if none exists, to the therapist or program to which they are being referred. In this regard, the research assessment protocol serves a dual function of helping with additional monitoring of high-risk patients in addition to providing data for the study.