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APA & MeetingsFull Access

Annual Meeting to Offer Sessions on Suicide From Many Dimensions

Published Online:4 Feb 2020https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2020.2a34

Abstract

Suicide will once again be a prominent topic at APA’s Annual Meeting in response to the rising numbers of deaths by suicide.

Photo: Michael Myers, M.D.

APA’s Annual Meeting is always replete with state-of-the-art updates on psychiatric dimensions of suicide. This year is no exception. What follows is a list of some of the many offerings. It is far from exhaustive, so I urge anyone attending the meeting to keep abreast of the full program. (Please note that attendees must register for courses and pay an additional fee.)

  • “Dissemination and Implementation of an Evidence-Based Care for Suicide Attempters in Japan” with APA President Bruce Schwartz, M.D., and his expert collaborators from Japan. This Presidential Session will have great appeal to many American and international psychiatrists attending the meeting.

  • “Responding to the Impact of Suicide in Clinicians” with Eric Plakun, M.D., and Jane Tillman, Ph.D. This is a popular and annual interactive session by two seasoned clinicians.

  • “Therapeutic Risk Management of the Suicidal Patient” with Hal Wortzel, M.D., and Bridget Matarazzo, Psy.D., and “Evidence-Based Treatment Approaches for Suicidal Adolescents” with Michele Berk, Ph.D., and Stephanie Clarke, Ph.D. These sessions are presented by APA Publishing authors, who always draw a large attendance.

  • “What Do I Do Now? The Development of a Clinical Pathway for Children and Adolescents With Identified Suicide Risk” with Stephen Soffer, Ph.D., Jason Lewis, Ph.D., O’Nisha Lawrence, M.D., Yesenia Marroquin, Ph.D., and Tami D. Benton, M.D. The presenters will describe the rationale and need for a clinical pathway to support a practice with children and adolescents at risk for suicide, review the process for developing a clinical pathway, and guide the audience through the flow of the clinical pathway.

  • “Data Versus Diatribe and the Depiction of Suicide in the News Media” with Mira Zein, M.D., M.P.H., Jessica Gold, M.D., M.S., Diana Robinson, M.D., Abhisek Chandan Khandai, M.D., M.S., and Laura Pientka, D.O. Attendees will meet in small groups to discuss the relationship between psychiatrists and the media, including safe reporting guidelines and reducing contagion.

  • “Firearms and Suicide Prevention: Why We Should Ask About Guns and How to Do It” with Marian Rain, M.D., Meagan Patricia Whitney, M.D., Theresa Raquel De Freitas Nicholson, M.D., and “Suicide and Firearms: What Do We Know and What Do We Do” with Ahmad Hameed, M.D., Kathleen Clare Dougherty, M.D., and Usman Hameed, M.D. Over 22,000 people die by firearm suicide each year in the United States—a public health crisis in which psychiatrists can play a prominent role in the effort to end it.

  • “Dynamic Therapy With Self-Destructive Borderline Patients: An Alliance-Based Intervention for Suicide” with Eric Plakun, M.D., and Samar Habl, M.D. This session will cover nine practical principles to establish and maintain a therapeutic alliance in the psychodynamic psychotherapy of self-destructive borderline patients.

  • “Developing a Suicide-Specific Treatment Program in Your Health Care Setting” with Kathleen Crapanzano, M.D., and Raymond Tucker, Ph.D. They will focus on the importance of integrating a comprehensive suicide-specific treatment program into mental health care settings.

  • “The Suicidal Patient: Principles and Practice of Assessment, Treatment, and Care Management” with Kirk Strosahl, Ph.D., John Chiles, M.D., and Laura Roberts, M.D., M.A. This master course is a comprehensive, day-long course that will appeal to attendees irrespective of career stage. Participants will learn about the difficulties inherent in both predicting and preventing suicide, with the aim of refocusing their clinical attention on aspects of the patient’s presentation that are more amenable to direct intervention.

  • “Imminent Suicide Risk Assessment in High-Risk Individuals Denying Suicidal Ideation or Intent: Introduction and Training” with Igor Galynker, M.D., Ph.D., and his expert faculty. Dr. Galynker is a prominent suicide researcher/clinician and frequent presenter at APA Annual Meetings. The course aims to train clinicians in a novel framework for the assessment of short-term suicide risk: the Modular Assessment of Risk for Imminent Suicide (MARIS) and the Narrative-Crisis Model of suicidal behavior (NCM). ■

More information on these and other Annual Meeting sessions can be found using the Session Search tool on APA’s website here.

Michael Myers, M.D., is a consultant to APA’s Scientific Program Committee and a professor of clinical psychiatry at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center. He is a specialist in physician health and the author of numerous books including The Physician as Patient: A Clinical Handbook for Mental Health Professionals and Touched by Suicide: Hope and Healing After Loss.