CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. The Nature and Scope of Suicide
2. Recognizing the Progressive Development of Suicide
3. Substance Abuse as a Major Contributor to Suicide
4. Suicide Across the Life Span
5. Special Populations and Suicide Risk
6. Prevention and Early Intervention for Suicide and Substance Abuse Problems

Supplements
References
Resources

Holding the Lifeline
A Guide to Suicide Prevention

• Suicidal behaviors extend across a continuum of increasing risk, from suicidal ideation (having thoughts of suicide), to suicide planning (coming up with ideas about how to end one's life), to suicide attempt (implementing a suicide plan or impulsively acting to take one's own life), to death by suicide.
• Both the risk and protective factors for suicide occur along biopsychosocial, environmental, and sociocultural dimensions, with some of the risk and protective factors being conversely linked to one another.
• Prevention of suicide can occur at the universal, selected, and/or indicated level(s). Suicide prevention is a critical public health issue and there are numerous gatekeepers, or helping persons, who can be identified to help ease this problem.