Suicide is a major public health issue, and a leading cause of death in the United States. Caregivers of young children with or at-risk for disabilities and developmental delays may experience significant life stressors that increase their risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Early childhood special education (ECSE) home visitors may be in a…

Military culture may affect the psychological functioning of military students who seek services in university and college counseling centers (UCCCs). Further, mental health professionals, including practicum and intern students, working in UCCCs may not be adequately trained to provide multiculturally competent services to military students.…

Some students with gifts and talents (SWGT) are among the thousands of youths who die by suicide every year, although there is no way to know how many. Research indicates they are not more likely to engage in suicidal behaviors than other students. They do have unique risk and protective factors, however. Risk factors can accumulate to outweigh…

Almost two-thirds (64%) of students who are considering dropping out of college cited emotional stress or personal mental health challenges as the reason--more than twice the percentage of those who cite the cost of attendance. The mental health crisis disproportionately impacts students of color, and there is also a critical lack of diversity in…

Recently, a mnemonic device, SHORES, was created for counselors to utilize with clients with suicidal ideation. The acronym of SHORES stands for Skills and strategies for coping (S); Hope (H); Objections (O); Reasons to live and Restricted means (R); Engaged care (E); and Support (S). In this manuscript, SHORES is introduced as a way for school…

Context: Best practice guidelines indicate the need for suicide prevention training for athletic trainers. However, no resources exist that address suicide prevention programs that are specifically designed for athletic trainers and their roles working with student-athletes and mental health crisis teams. Objective: To describe an introductory…

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a prevalent psychiatric illness that often first presents at college. If left untreated, BPD can lead to severe disability or fatality. While multiple evidence-based treatments for BPD exist, most are resource intensive and, therefore, difficult to implement at the typical college mental health center.…

The lack of a standardized nomenclature for suicide-related thoughts and behaviors prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the Veterans Integrated Service Network 19 Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, to create the Self-Directed Violence Classification System (SDVCS). SDVCS has been adopted by the…

This article is intended to engage others in a dialogue about the role and meaning of jokes about suicide. Types of jokes involving suicide are examined to distinguish the different types of humor involved. A sample of 118 recent political cartoons in an online website was downloaded, of which 73 concerned suicide bombers. Examples of suicide…

An article published in the Fall 2004 issue and updated in the Spring 2006 issue of this journal discussed a recently approved drug, Strattera, which is used for children and adults with ADHD. The article noted that one of the main attributes of the drug is the fact that it is not a stimulant medication, but rather works by blocking or slowing the…

The death of a child is one of the most tragic events imaginable. Even more gut-wrenching is when a child intentionally chooses to end his or her own life in order to escape from unbearable suffering. Unfortunately, the occurrence of self-harm behaviors increases dramatically and occurs at elevated rates during adolescence (Nock et al., 2008), and…

A functional model of the acquired capability for suicide, a component of Joiner's (2005) Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide, is presented. A component of Joiner's (2005) Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide a functional model of the acquired capability for suicide is presented. The model integrates the points discussed by…

This paper takes Betty Joseph's concept of "addiction to near death," which describes a clinical situation in which sadism and masochism dominate the relationships of a particular group of patients, and applies it specifically to the case material of a girl in adolescent psychotherapy treatment. A link is made between the patient's retreat from…

Protective factors for fostering reasons for living were examined among low-income, suicidal, African American women. Bivariate logistic regressions revealed that higher levels of optimism, spiritual well-being, and family social support predicted reasons for living. Multivariate logistic regressions indicated that spiritual well-being showed…

Over the past half century, in the United States and other developed nations, children's free play with other children has declined sharply. Over the same period, anxiety, depression, suicide, feelings of helplessness, and narcissism have increased sharply in children, adolescents, and young adults. This article documents these historical changes…