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Essay On Assessment Of Suicide

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Routinized Assessment of Suicide Risk in Clinical Practice: An Empirically Informed Update written by Chu et al. This article is important because it lays further groundwork in evaluating and treating individuals with suicidal symptoms. An update is essential to maintain a solid suicide spectrum and expanding the existing model that has not been updated since 1999. Chu et al talk about the suicide variables and newly discovered symptoms that correspond to the capability of suicide. The results of this journal article leads to categorizing individuals on how severe in suicide risk individuals are and how to address the risks as well as how to manage them. The classification of suicide risk levels are categorized in four stages, which are …show more content…

It is sad to think about how almost every single person who committed suicide had a plan or a series of steps to follow to fulfill their mission of taking their whole life. Many plans may vary from step to step but the ultimate goal is to remove yourself from life. When assessing a patient, it is important to ask if they have thought about suicide. If they answer yes, then you must move on to suicide prevention. This is a delicate step for clinicians because they must be very careful and thoroughly examine and categorize the patient so the right treatment approach is made. There are many methods to commit suicide like guns, drug overdoses, bridges/buildings, and self-poisoning (qtd. In Chu et al). But there is another element to suicide and that is the desire and intent to die. Suicide desire is wanting to die and suicide intent is making death the final goal for an individual. Once someone sets their mind to these two components then specific suicide plans are …show more content…

One symptom is agitation, which can mean an individual is nervous or has high anxiety both can be very bad for an individual who might have high risk suicidal behavior. Chu et al claims, “others have also reported that symptoms of agitation in depression are associated with more severe suicidal ideation” (1192). Another symptom is marked irritability which increases anger and zero tolerance with anyone that tries to include themselves when you clearly don’t want them too. Sleep patterns and disturbances is another severe symptom which include “insomnia, panic attacks, and nightmares” (1193). Some other important symptoms are social withdrawal and severe weight loss that take a mental and physical toll on the

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