Konrad Michel, a leading psychiatrist and acclaimed expert, draws on decades of experience to offer necessary new ways of understanding--and preventing--suicide.
It includes practical advice for people at risk, with special emphasis on young people, as well as for relatives and health professionals..
Both compassionate and rigorous, this book provides vital insight into suicide prevention and shows how changing attitudes will help save lives.
Michel emphasizes the importance of communication: medical professionals need to connect with patients as individuals to identify specific warning signs.
People at risk can learn to recognize their vulnerabilities in order to manage potentially life-threatening situations and keep themselves safe.
Through a brief therapy, patients find a personally meaningful narrative understanding of their Suicidal thoughts and impulses.
Based on this understanding, Michel and his colleagues developed a person-centered approach to treatment that overcomes the limitations of the traditional medical model.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews with Suicidal patients, he argues that suicide and suicide attempts occur when someone experiences extreme emotional pain that severely impairs the ability to think and act rationally.
Michel shows that suicide is not just a consequence of mental illness but an action related to a person\'s life story.
Writing vividly and personally, he recounts more than forty years of working with and learning from Suicidal patients.
After one of his first patients died by suicide, Michel devoted himself to researching self-harm.
Konrad Michel, a leading psychiatrist and acclaimed expert, draws on decades of experience to offer necessary new ways of understanding--and preventing--suicide
