Hello, my name is Stacey Freedenthal, and I am excited to start this blog on suicide. I am passionate both about preventing suicide- what one author calls “unnecessary deaths” – and about understanding the intense psychological pain and despair that can drive a person to end their life.
I have a lot to say about the topic of suicide, for several reasons. As a psychotherapist, my clinical work in crisis settings and private practice has dealt with a great deal of people who experienced suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide. As a social work professor, my research focuses on suicide-related topics, such as measuring suicidal intent and differentiating between suicidal and non-suicidal self injury. And as a regular human, suicide has touched my life in various, profound ways (more on that another time).
Who this Blog is For
This blog is intended for anyone who is affected by suicide – whether you are thinking of suicide or have attempted suicide, or you are a psychotherapist who treats suicidal individuals, or you recently lost a loved one to suicide, or you have a suicidal friend or family member and want to know how to help, or you are interested in the topic of suicide for some other reason.
Things to Come
As this blog unfolds, I intend to write about many topics, some specifically for therapists, some for survivors of suicide, some for suicidal individuals – although all the topics may be of interest to curious folks. The topics will include (not in any particular order):
- What we know (and do not know) about the causes of suicide
- How to make sense of your suicidal thoughts, if you yourself are suicidal
- How to help a suicidal friend or family member
- Whether asking someone if they are suicidal can trigger a suicide
- Hotlines and internet sites that can help people who are considering suicide
- Warning signs for suicide
- Coping with client suicide
- How to tell the difference between suicidal acts and non-suicidal self injury
- The rise of cutting among adolescents
- How to talk about suicide
- Clinical assessment of suicidal intent
- Stigma and suicide
- Reasons for living and other protective factors
- Suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered adolescents
- Borderline personality disorder and suicide
- Depression and suicide
- Bipolar disorder and suicide
- Bullying and suicide
- The military and suicide
- Assisted suicide
- Medication for suicidal people, and its positive and negative potential effects
- The standard of care in treating suicidal clients
- And more!
Interested in Another Topic about Suicide?
If you have any topics you would like me to address in this blog or have questions for me, please use the contact form below or email me directly at speakingofsuicide@gmail.com.
Thanks, and please check back again soon!
© 2013 Stacey Freedenthal
I would like to see you do a post on Borderline Personality Disorder and suicide
Great idea! I haven’t written new posts lately but will definitely put this on my list for when I do. Thanks for contributing.
Cont. from previous post…other topics I’m interested in are: police/first responders and suicide; the legacy of suicide in families and careers in suicide prevention.
Anne, these are great ideas! Thanks for proposing them. I will definitely put them on my list. There are a couple good books that I can recommend offhand about the legacy of suicide in families. One is Linda Gray Sexton’s book about the suicide of her mother, the poet Anne Sexton. It is called Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide. (Be warned that hers is a wrenching account, though ultimately inspirational.) Another is In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of her Mother’s Suicide. Both of these books are memoirs; there are also many academic articles available on this important topic.
I like your blog. I found your blog thru a google alert I set up on “suicide attempt”. I’m working on the SAMHSA challenge contest to create a mobile app for patients being discharged from ED and in-patients units. I’m also exploring suicide prevention as a career and I’m a survivor.
http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/for-suicide-survivors-sharing-heals/
I’d love to connect to chat about the SAMHSA contest.
Hello Anne, it certainly looks like you are doing very important work for survivors and for people at risk for suicide. I read the article you linked to, and I am sorry about your uncles’ suicides. Thank you for helping to organize the AFSP International Survivors of Suicide Day. Let’s connect via email. I am interested in hearing more about your work.