A huge fear of many people who think about suicide is that they will go to a therapist who panics at the mention of the word “suicide.” Some therapists do, in fact, panic. This can take several forms.
A panicky therapist may all too quickly recommend psychiatric hospitalization, even when it is not really necessary. (Suicidal ideation alone is not reason enough for a person to be hospitalized. In fact, it is very difficult to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital these days, even if you are thinking of suicide!)
Some therapists get angry with a client who attempts suicide. Some even stop working with the client altogether. The therapist may say that the therapy obviously is not helping, and therefore the client needs a new therapist.
Finally, some therapists simply choose not to take on new clients who are suicidal. I worked at a telephone counseling line for several years, and I was shocked by how many therapists listed in our referral database had checked “no” when asked if they would accept new clients who were thinking of suicide or had recently made an attempt.
When people finally admit that they need help from a mental health professional, the last thing they need is rejection. And rejection from a mental health professional is probably the last thing they expect.
Finding a Therapist Who Doesn’t Panic about Suicidal Thoughts
There are ways to figure out if a therapist is one who will shy away from treating suicidal clients or overreact when they do. Here are some tips about areas to look out for:
Therapist’s Focus
Look for a therapist who states that suicidal crises are an area that they treat. Therapist-finder sites like Psychology Today, HelpPRO, and GoodTherapy.org allow therapists to list the problem areas in which they have expertise. If a therapist has not checked off the site’s category for suicidal thoughts, then the therapist may lack the experience, education, or interest necessary to work with suicidal clients.
Therapist’s Acceptance of Suicidal Clients
When you call to make an appointment, ask if they accept clients in a suicidal crisis. If the therapist immediately says “no,” then you are spared the heartache of going for an appointment, sharing exquisitely personal information about yourself, and being turned away afterward.
Even if the therapist says they accept suicidal clients as new clients, still pay special attention to their response. Do they qualify in any way their willingness to work with suicidal clients?
Therapist’s Training in Suicide Prevention
You might ask what training they have received on assessing a client’s risk for suicide and working with suicidal clients. Most graduate school programs do not require training in suicide assessment or intervention, and most therapists report having received scant, if any, training in the area.
Therapist’s Ability to Talk Openly about Suicide
In early sessions, make note of whether your therapist asks you about any possible suicidal thoughts – or, if you have already brought up the topic, whether they delve more deeply into your thoughts of suicide. Some therapists avoid bringing up suicide, out of fear that it will give clients the idea. Others may have personal experiences or attitudes about suicide that make them hesitate to introduce the topic. Also, be alert to whether the therapist openly addresses suicide or uses vague euphemisms like “hurt yourself” or “harm yourself.” (Self-harm might include suicide, but many people who harm themselves aren’t suicidal, and many people who are suicidal don’t view suicide as harming themselves.)
Therapist’s Ability to Listen Fully about Suicide
Along with asking about your suicidal thoughts, a therapist needs to listen. Does your therapist give you the space to tell your story? Do they gain an understanding of why you think about dying by suicide, and why the thoughts may or may not make sense to you? Do they respond with empathy rather than advice or judgment?
Some therapists ask a mental checklist of questions to assess the risk that you will make an attempt. Those questions are important. Equally important, if not more important, is offering you the space to tell your story, to be heard, and to be understood.
Therapists who Specialize in Suicide Prevention
Keep in mind that there is a difference between a therapist who works with suicidal clients and a therapist who specializes in working with suicidal clients. A therapist can be competent, well trained, and experienced in working effectively with suicidal clients even if they don’t specialize in working with suicidal clients.
If you do seek a specialist in suicide prevention, look for someone who has published research or clinical articles about suicide, participated in suicide-related professional conferences, been trained in specialized approaches such as cognitive therapy for suicide prevention or CAMS (Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality), undergone other specialized clinical training in suicide prevention, or some mix of these. Specialists also are likely to belong to a suicide-specific professional group such as the American Association of Suicidology or the International Association for Suicide Prevention.
In Closing
You will not really know how well a therapist will work with you in a suicidal crisis until you actually work with them. But these tips will help you find somebody who is committed to working with suicidal clients and who can work relatively comfortably with suicidal clients.
I say “relatively comfortably,” because even the most experienced psychotherapists feel some fear or discomfort when a client is in extreme danger of dying by suicide. Healthy concern for your safety is not the same as panic.
A Question for You
For those of you in therapy, how have you determined whether a therapist can talk openly, and listen fully, about suicide without overreacting?
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This post was updated on March 11, 2021.
© Copyright 2013 Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW, All Rights Reserved. Written for www.speakingofsuicide.com. Photos purchased from Fotolia.com
Thank you, Dr. Freedenthal, for posting this article. I read another of your articles first, and then saw the link to this one and read it as well. I have been thinking about suicide for months and can not think of a single person I’d feel safe speaking to about it. So I keep it inside. I lay awake at night and wonder how much longer I can keep going like this. After reading your articles, this morning, I googled therapists in my area. It’s a very rural area and there are only two, neither specializes in working with suicidal clients. Of the two, one specialized in “play therapy” and primarily works with children. The other works with adults and specializes in anxiety and depression. I called the second one and left a detailed message. If (a) she calls back, and (b) has experience with and/or is open to working with someone with suicidal ideation, and (c) takes my insurance, then I will give it a try. I would not have considered this had I not read your article about whether a therapist had an obligation to hospitalize anyone mentioning suicide, and I would not have known where to start to find a therapist had I not read your article about how to find one. So, thank you.
This is the number one reason therapists are saying “No” when suicide is an issue: If you commit suicide at any time during or after working with that therapist, he or she is fully liable for your death, including criminal charges such as 2nd degree manslaughter in some cases. The therapists’ insurance companies have forbidden them from having anything to do with anyone on the subject of suicide. (Imagine if you mentioned it, and they didn’t “do enough” in the eyes of the law, to save you, THEY are held responsible.) Hard to believe we live in a country where, by Roe v Wade, we have full control over our bodies, but suddenly that power goes away if we want to abort ourselves. It’s ridiculous. To get around this dilemma, go to Oregon or Vermont. There are no charges against therapists, even if you commit suicide right in front of them. Google it. Or hire a therapist via Skype in one of those states.(Google, tho, which law applies: the state YOU live in, or the state the therapist lives in.) Only other option is suicide hotlines, and I think THEY have to report you, too. It’s beyond ridiculous how deeply suffering suicidal patients are prevented from getting care in the US.
Myrtle “Maggie,”
I would love to know where you received the information you included above, because most of it is dangerously wrong. The myths you describe could deter people from getting help; they may believe that, as you assert, “deeply suffering suicidal patients are prevented from getting care in the U.S.”
In fact, a great many social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and other mental health professionals are available to help people who have suicidal thoughts or behavior. These professionals provide such help to tens of thousands of people in diverse settings such as community mental health agencies, hospitals, schools, prisons, and private practices.
Therapists are not fully liable when a client dies by suicide unless the therapist committed malpractice. Even then, the therapist has to be sued after the suicide (most therapists aren’t), and, even then, a jury has to find that the therapist committed malpractice (most juries don’t).
Therapists are not subject to criminal charges if a client dies by suicide, unless the therapist aided and abetted the suicide in some way (like, for example, giving the suicidal person a firearm and advising the person to shoot himself or herself). In fact, if you try doing a Google search for articles with the words “psychotherapist,” “suicide,” and “manslaughter” in them, I suspect you won’t find a single article about a therapist being criminally charged with manslaughter for a client’s suicide, but if you do, please let me know. (If you do this Google search, you will need to use the “advanced search” function and instruct Google to omit articles about “Michelle Carter,” the teenager charged with encouraging her friend to die by suicide. Apparently, many articles were written in which mental health professionals shared their expertise about the case.)
It is also not correct that therapists’ insurance companies have forbidden therapists “from having anything to do with anyone on the subject of suicide.” In fact, that’s one of the very reasons why therapists purchase malpractice insurance: The insurance company covers the legal fees, settlements, and judgments that can come from a malpractice suit, including those arising from a client’s suicide.
Here’s what is partly correct in what you wrote above:
Therapists have a “duty to protect” someone who is in foreseeable and imminent danger of dying by suicide. This applies only to cases where the imminent risk for suicide is evident (meaning, it’s foreseeable that the person will die by suicide within hours or days). It’s seldom necessary for a therapist to intervene (e.g., call 911) with people who seriously consider suicide or even attempt suicide, because most are not at imminent risk for suicide. Keep in mind that *nobody* is able to predict who will die by suicide. There is no test, no questionnaire, no wisdom that can predict this. So if a therapist assesses that a person is not at imminent risk for suicide and turns out to be wrong, this does not necessarily mean that the therapist committed malpractice. Mistakes in judgment are not malpractice if the therapist had sound reasons for making the decision that they made and followed the standards of their profession.
Physician-assisted suicide (also known as “death with dignity”) is legal in Oregon and Vermont, along with Washington State, Montana, and, very soon, California. This means that therapists do not have a duty to protect someone from dying by suicide if that person is deemed by other medical professionals to be terminally ill and to have fewer than 6 months of life left to live. If a person who does not have a terminal illness discloses a plan to die by suicide within hours or days, therapists in those states still have a duty to protect that person.
Finally, I should note that most if not all hotlines do use the technology available to them to identify the source of a call and send the authorities to protect someone who is a danger to himself or herself. If you want to discuss your suicidal thoughts with someone and absolutely want to be sure that there will be no intervention to protect you, the Samaritans in the UK have a non-intervention policy even in cases of high risk. They offer assistance by email for this purpose for people around the world; the address is jo@samaritans.org.
As for therapists’ “duty to protect” people from suicide, this is a contentious issue and I worry that it ends up hurting more people than it helps. As I note in the article above, some therapists panic. But many (and I believe most) therapists do not panic. Most therapists can calmly help suicidal people without resorting to unnecessary hospitalization.
I hope this information is helpful to you and to anyone reading this who might yearn to reach out for professional help, but who is afraid to do so.
I just wanted to say it is possible to find a therapist who doesn’t panic, but says all the things you need to hear. I was most of the way through a 12 week course of CBT for anxiety when I became suicidal (not for the first time). My therapist not only noticed the shift but asked enough questions with quiet concern to get me to admit the truth out loud for the first ever time. He didn’t panic, but gently helped me to see that suicide wasn’t the only option, and that it was possible to recover. I’m not quite there yet as sadly the sessions still had to end after 12 (I’m in the UK & that was the NHS allotted number), but he gave me hope and the knowledge that there are CBT therapists who have compassion, concern & experience. I wish all those who come here some peace in their lives & the chink of hope that I have been given. It is possible, people do care, and you are worth fighting for.
Of course, poor people in the public system rarely get to choose their therapist. One is assigned to them.
That is an excellent point, Jean, and it is well taken. It is a privilege to be able to “shop” for a therapist and choose the best one.
I have found that there are some thoughts regarding suicide ideation, reasons for thinking about suicide, and suicide attempts, that simply can’t be shared with anyone, period. I have found that revealing these thoughts cause more harm than good, and that, in the end, the proper solution should have been to withhold the information or to lie about one’s intentions. Some people may be best served by using anonymous sites like the Samaritans. I find it best to keep to those sites and simply to not trust anyone. Trusting others face-to-face has usually caused irreversible loss.