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SERIOUSLY SUICIDAL CLIENTS: HOW DO EXPERIENCED CLINICIANS DISTINGUISH THEM? (PERSONAL CONSTRUCT, LETHALITY ASSESSMENT)
Abstract
A survey of seventy-two (72) experienced clinicians polled psychologists and psychiatrists with 16.99 mean years experience to rate fourteen constructs as to each one's importance in identifying the seriously suicidal adult. Ten of these constructs were developed in Phase 1 by two methods. One, a review of the literature was conducted. Two, five experts in the field of suicidology developed psychological constructs by means of a variation of the repertory grid method. Four "dummy" constructs were added by the researcher in an attempt to control for rating constructs on a health/sickness and/or general psychology dimension rather than on lethality of suicidal behavior dimension. Results showed that clinicians do differentiate seriously suicidal behavior from less lethal suicidal behavior in adults. Rank ordering of means of construct ratings showed that the three most important constructs for identifying the seriously suicidal adults were: "sense of hopelessness versus hope", "social isolation versus relatedness", and "significant loss in the context of no social support versus loss in the context of social support". For some analyses, the 72 participants were divided into two groups: self identified suicidologists and non suicidologists. Results disclosed that two constructs, "Emotional Detachment" and "Unmet Dependency Needs", were rated as significantly more important by the non suicidologists. Principal components analysis of the ten Phase 1 construct ratings of all 72 clinicians revealed four factors to target the seriously suicidal adult. They are: constriction of affect expression; rigid, high, self expectations with unmet dependency needs; hopelessness and significant loss; and social and emotional isolation. In synthesis, it seems that experienced clinicians are saying, through their ratings of constructs, that the seriously suicidal adult is one who has constriction of affect expression; rigid, high self expectations with unmet dependency needs; feels hopeless in relation to a significant loss, and is socially and emotionally isolated from other people. These findings, helpful for clinicians, underscore the validity and clinical usefulness of ideas about suicidal adults gleaned from both theory and empirical research.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
SMITH, DALE DAVIS, "SERIOUSLY SUICIDAL CLIENTS: HOW DO EXPERIENCED CLINICIANS DISTINGUISH THEM? (PERSONAL CONSTRUCT, LETHALITY ASSESSMENT)" (1986). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8704564.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8704564