Re: Suicide
 

"I am sure you cant comment on a specific case, but in general what kind of sanctions could mental health professionals - who fail to ask pertinent questions - and that has a deadly outcome be subject to?"
The first "sanction" is the feeling of regret and a deep sense of loss of having lost a patient. In addition there is the sanction of a lawsuit, in and extraordinary cases a criminal sanction of criminal negligence. I don't know of such a case being brought criminally, but if the prosecutor was well versed on the SOC for mental health clinicians, and the case was really really bad, it would qualify for the criminal courts.

Re: Suicide
 

undefined :cool:
I am new to this forum and I hope that nobody freaks out when I say that I am not a psychologist but someone with a mental illness. I can understand when you guys want to stay among yourselves; however, I have this idea that it might be interesting to share some of my viewpoints in regards to suicidality or suicidal depression.

First of all, I have this feeling that therapists always seem to be in "rescue" mode because should a suicide happen they think it is their fault. And there is the newsflash-it is not the fault of a psychiatrist or therapist when someone decides to commit suicide. Being suicidal can be anxiety provoking for someone who fears death. Maybe dealing with Life & death issues might help alleviate the anxiety of a completed suicide. I had a therapist who became so anxious when I was suicidal that I quit alerting him when I was seriously suicidally depressed. He could not make any decisions on my behalf despite the fact that I called for help by letting him know that I could not cope on my own anymore. I think if patients really want to die it is very tricky to prevent suicide from happening.....I am sorry just the input of a layperson.

I also think it would be nice if therapists would not always want to "fix" one within a short period of time. Because I as a patient will have to fix myself anyways thus, I need to do this at my pace. Then, therapists can get so exasperated when the help that they offer is not received i.e acknowledged. Sometimes, mental illness can prevent one from acting responsibly.

Suicide is unpredictable because a therapist cannot be with a patient 24/7. Lots of lonely moments present themselves while being severely depressed or manic so that attempting suicide is always an option. :p

I hope I did not offend anyone here...I am on meds and pretty stable; thus capable of having plenty of discussions.

viele Gruesse
Barbara

Re: Suicide
 

Thanks for reading this thread! The Law, Ethics and Psychotherapy Forum gets a lot of readers, but few new posts. You are invited to contribute statements, comments or questions to keep the forum alive. Pick something you like, or something you don't like, but don't let the threads go stagnant! All I ask is that we avoid personal questions from patients (we can't do clinical work or second-guess therapists here, but we can have professional discussions among clinicians about ethics or forensic scenarios). We also avoid personal attacks.

The possibilities are endless. You can simply reply to a post in an existing thread, or start a new one. Do you have questions or experiences that involve the ethics or legal aspects of training? clinical work? termination? malpractice or malpractice lawsuits? forensic careers? criminal matters related to mental health? boundaries? work with courts or lawyers? work in correctional institutions? work with parolees or probationers? clinician impairment? laws affecting practice?

Choose something you're familiar with or something you want to know more about. If you want suggestions, you're welcome to check out my website at www.psychandlaw.org.

Thanks,
Bill Reid, Forum Administrator

Re: Suicide
 

Welcome, isocial! Thanks for your posts.

Spammers
 

Since January 1, 2011, I've found some bad posts (and/or posts by bad people) on the Law, Ethics, and Psychotherapy forums. Some are blatant spam and some are apparently porn or other inappropriate material (it's hard for me to tell when the post is not in English and the text is cyrillic).

If you run across posts or post content you believe is either inappropriate or indecypherable, please let me know by PM, in a reply post, or by email (if you have my email).

Yes, it's censorship. And the censorship will continue apace.

Thanks,
Bill