A revised and refined version of the O'Carroll et al. (1996) nomenclature for suicidology is presented, with a focus on suicide-related ideations, communications, and behaviors. The hope is that this refinement will result in the development of operational definitions and field testing of this nomenclature in clinical and research settings. This revision would not have been possible without the international collaboration and dialogue addressing the nomenclature of suicidology since the O'Carroll et al. nomenclature appeared in 1996.Although it is doubtful that we will ever be able to construct universally unambiguous criteria to comprehensively characterize suicidal behaviors (and, overall, firmly establish the intention behind them), for scientific clarity it would be highly desirable that the set of definitions and the associated terminology be explicit and generalizable.

The current article addresses the issue of warning signs for suicide, attempting to differentiate the construct from risk factors. In accordance with the characteristic features discussed, a consensus set of warning signs identified by the American Association of Suicidology working group are presented, along with a discussion of relevant clinical and research applications.

Since the publication of the O' Carroll et al. (1996) nomenclature for suicidology, there have been a number of published letters and articles, as well as an active e-mail dialogue, in response to, and elaborating upon, this effort to establish a standard nomenclature for suicidology. This new nomenclature has been presented on a number of occasions at both national and international meetings. In this paper we provide the background, rationale, and methodology involved in the process of revising the O'Carroll et al. nomenclature, based on the feedback and discussions that have ensued over the past 10 years.Those who have written and studied the phenomenon of suicide have not defined the term so simply . . . how the word is defined has implications and large effects for statistics that are compiled on the official number of suicides, and for researchers, so that there is clear communication regarding what and who is being studied.Among writers in the field of suicidology there is no single common accepted definition . . . the term suicide refers not to a single action but more broadly to a great many varied behaviors. For example, one can speak of suicidal thoughts, intentions, ideation, gestures, attempts, completions, equivalents.Thus far, no single term, definition, or taxonomy has served to sufficiently represent the complex set of behaviors that have been suggested as suicidal. A Morton

Suicidology finds itself confused and stagnated for lack of a standard nomenclature. This paper proposes a nomenclature for suicide‐related behavior in the hope of improving the clarity and precision of communications, advancing suicidological research and knowledge, and improving the efficacy of clinical interventions.

A total of 2,611 calls to 14 helplines were monitored to observe helper behaviors and caller characteristics and changes during the calls. The relationship between intervention characteristics and call outcomes are reported for 1,431 crisis calls. Empathy and respect, as well as factor-analytically derived scales of supportive approach and good contact and collaborative problem solving were significantly related to positive outcomes, but not active listening. We recommend recruitment of helpers with these characteristics, development of standardized training in those methods that are empirically shown to be effective, and the need for research relating short-term outcomes to long-term effects.