Suicide Risk Assessment: A Review of Risk Factors for Suicide in Bipolar Disorder

Speaker(s):

Anchana Dominic, MD

Presentation: In 2016, 45,000 Americans lost their lives to suicide (CDC Data). Since 1999, suicide rates have gone up by more than 30%. Mental illness is a known contributing factor to suicide. In clinical samples, about 50% of individuals with bipolar disorder were found to have a history of a suicide attempt. The rate of suicide attempts in those with bipolar disorder was twice that of individuals with unipolar depression. In this presentation, Dr. Dominic will review empirically researched risk factors associated with suicide in individuals with bipolar disorder. Specific symptoms and clinical presentations associated with risk of suicide will be discussed. Some of the risk factors include family history of suicide, early onset of bipolar disorder, rapid cycling, and abuse of alcohol and/or drugs. Dr. Dominic will discuss how to evaluate for these risk factors and the clinical application to preventing suicide in this population.

Objectives:

  1. Explain the prevalence of suicide in bipolar disorder
  2. Identify risk factors for suicide in bipolar disorder
  3. Describe how to assess for risk factors in bipolar disorder

The Ethical Case for Prioritizing Suicide Prevention in Training, Practice and Systems, Part II

Speaker(s):

Ryan Lindsay, MSW

Presentation: Suicide represents a significant public health priority in the United States. For social workers, counselors, nurses, educators, administrators, and others who interact with those at-risk of dying by suicide, understanding how to not only prevent but to assess, refer and treat is an ethical mandate. Professionals from across multiple disciplines are driven by a “do no harm” approach; however, our training programs, systems, and professional development priorities often lack suicide prevention as a priority. This talk will provide an overview of the ethical mandates across professions and generate arguments from the literature that makes an ethical case that suicide prevention should be prioritized in training, practice, and systems.

Objectives:

  1. Identify ethical principles relevant to suicide prevention
  2. Describe the problem of suicide
  3. Identify strategies for upholding an ethical mandate of addressing the problem of suicide in training, practice, and systems
  4. Explain how to use existing Codes of Ethics, including NBCC and NASW, to inform trainings, practice and systems regarding prioritizing suicide prevention

The Ethical Case for Prioritizing Suicide Prevention in Training, Practice and Systems, Part I

Speaker(s):

Ryan Lindsay, MSW

Presentation: Suicide represents a significant public health priority in the United States. For social workers, counselors, nurses, educators, administrators, and others who interact with those at-risk of dying by suicide, understanding how to not only prevent but to assess, refer and treat is an ethical mandate. Professionals from across multiple disciplines are driven by a “do no harm” approach; however, our training programs, systems, and professional development priorities often lack suicide prevention as a priority. This talk will provide an overview of the ethical mandates across professions and generate arguments from the literature that makes an ethical case that suicide prevention should be prioritized in training, practice, and systems.

Objectives:

  1. Identify ethical principles relevant to suicide prevention
  2. Describe the problem of suicide
  3. Identify strategies for upholding an ethical mandate of addressing the problem of suicide in training, practice, and systems
  4. Explain how to use existing Codes of Ethics, including NBCC and NASW, to inform trainings, practice and systems regarding prioritizing suicide prevention

Lindsay, Ryan, MSW, LCSW

Ryan Lindsay’s career has focused on training new and experienced providers in various evidence-based treatments, consulting with organizations on how to implement evidence-based programs, and aiding organizations in program development utilizing evidence-based principles. At the Brown School he chairs, teaches and advises students within the Mental Health concentration in the Master of Social Work program.

Lindsay completed a post-master’s fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Social Work within the University of Michigan Health System. As a result, he developed specialties in several evidence-based treatments. Currently, he is a Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapist by the Linehan Board of Certification, an expert in the application of Prolonged Exposure Therapy for complicated PTSD, and a trainer in Motivational Interviewing.

Lindsay’s early experience working in both the public and private sectors sparked a desire to increase community access to evidence-based treatments and programs. In 2009, Lindsay co-founded the St. Louis Center for Family Development, a social enterprise which provides mental health services that are trauma-informed and evidence-based.

The Ethical Case for Prioritizing Suicide Prevention in Training, Practice and Systems, Part II