Suicide Risk Assessment

Suicide risk assessments (SRA) are based on the symptoms, behaviors, and historical factors that are gathered during a mental health professional/psychiatric interview whereas suicide risk formulation (SRF) is the professional judgment which is based on interview (Silverman & Berman, 2014). In order for professional judgment to occur there needs to have been an assessment (Silverman & Berman, 2014). When dealing with screening and assessing suicide risk there needs to be a standard of care which is defined by Silverman and Berman (2014) as “duty to exercise that degree of skill and care ordinarily employed by a reasonable and prudent clinician in similar circumstances by members of the same profession” (p. 421). Two suicide risk tools are the
Suicide Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) and the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) (2014). SRAs involve two components which lead to SRFs they are gathering static risk factors and exploring the patient’s suicidal process for example, are there presences of ideation, are there motives, any intents, planning, and behavior (Silverman & Berman, 2014). Additional components of an SRA include and self-injury, any mental disorders in family or relatives, have family or friends who have either attempted or completed suicide, any substance abuse, any medical conditions, and the person’s level of coping skills for example, if they have a high level of coping skills there is a less likelihood of having ideation. Suicide ideation question is “Are you thinking about suicide today?” (Silverman & Berman, 2014, p. 422). Many people deny suicidal ideation for many reasons such reasons include feel that suicide is a sign of weakness, they feel that they will loss autonomy, there might be an overreaction on the part of the clinician, and if they admit they might fear hospitalization (Silverman & Berman, 2014).