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Summary of the Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Suicidal Behavior

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ABSTRACT

These guidelines review what is known about the epidemiology, causes, management, and prevention of suicide and attempted suicide in young people. Detailed guidelines are provided concerning the assessment and emergency management of the children and adolescents who present with suicidal behavior. The guidelines also present suggestions on how the clinician may interface with the community. Crisis hotlines, method restriction, educational programs, and screening/ case-finding suicide prevention strategies are examined, and the clinician is advised on media counseling. Intervention in the community after a suicide, minimization of suicide contagion or imitation, and the training of primary care physicians and other gatekeepers to recognize and refer the potentially suicidal child and adolescent are discussed.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This summary provides an overview of the assessment and treatment recommendations contained in the Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Suicidal Behavior. This summary includes many of the most important points and recommendations from these practice guidelines. However, the treatment and assessment of suicidal patients requires the consideration of many important factors that cannot be conveyed fully in a summary, and the reader is encouraged to

REFERENCE (1)

  • American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (in press), Practice parameters for the assessment and treatment of...

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These parameters were developed by David Shaffer, M.D., Cynthia R. Pfeffer, M.D., and the Work Group on Quality Issues: William Bernet, M.D., Chair, Valerie Arnold, M.D., Joseph Beitchman, M.D., R. Scott Benson, M.D., Oscar Bukstein, M.D., Joan Kinlan, M.D., Jon McClellan, M.D., David Rue, M.D., and Jon A. Shaw, M.D. AACAP Staff: Kristin Kroeger. The authors thank David A. Brent, M.D., Markus Kruesi, M.D., Jane L. Pearson, Ph.D., and Anthony Spirito, Ph.D., for their thoughtful review, and Jennifer Gutstein for her considerable assistance.

This summary and the full text of the Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Suicidal Behavior are available to Academy members on the World Wide Web (http://www.aacap.org) and will appear in a future supplement to this Journal. The full text of these parameters was reviewed at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The full text was approved by AACAP Council on October 17, 2000.

Reprints requests to the AACAP Communications Department, 3615 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20016.

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