If you want to know, consider asking: How likely is it that patients will hurt themselves in the future?

Abstract

Although self-harming behavior is a common and costly problem for psychiatric inpatients released from the hospital, standardized tools that assess patients' risk for self-harm are rarely used in clinical settings. In this study of dually diagnosed psychiatric inpatients (N = 147), we assessed the utility of patients' self-perceptions of risk in predicting self-harm in the community. Patients' self-perceptions of risk predicted self-harm 8 weeks after discharge from the hospital (Lag 1; area under the curve [AUC] = 0.75). Self-perceptions of risk at the 8-week interview also predicted self-harm 2 months later (Lag 2; AUC = 0.72). Self-perceived risk added predictive utility above and beyond scores on a measure of depression and seemed to capture changes in risk state over time. The results suggest that inpatients can accurately perceive their own risk and therefore may be important collaborators in the risk management process.

Duration of suicide process among suicide attempters and characteristics of those providing window of opportunity for intervention

“…[20] We did not inquire from subjects on strategies that would have been beneficial in aborting the suicide attempt, this would have given better information from the patient perspective. [21] Our sample was limited to suicide attempters, and the results may not necessarily extrapolate to suicide completers. The findings of the study relate to a tertiary care center in India, and generalization to other settings should be done with caution.…”

Offenders with mental illness have criminogenic needs, too: Toward recidivism reduction.

“…The "direct cause" model that underpins this reentry approach rests on little empirical support (see Peterson et al, 2011). Although individuals with serious mental illness clearly need psychiatric services, managing offenders' mental health problems may do little to reduce their risk of recidivism.…”

Self-Rated Expectations of Suicidal Behavior Predict Future Suicide Attempts Among Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatric Emergency Patients

“…[26] - [28] We expand on existing research in several ways. Specifically, while some studies inquired about perception of self-harm risk without differentiating between suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injury, [25] others collapsed the outcome of suicidal thoughts and behavior [26] or the suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injury outcome, [23] thus limiting the interpretation of findings. In addition, we address methodological limitations of previous studies.…”

“…In addition, we address methodological limitations of previous studies. Specifically, while some studies inquired about perception of self-harm risk without differentiating between suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injury, [25] others collapsed the outcome of suicidal thoughts and behavior [26] or the suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injury outcome, [23] thus limiting the interpretation of findings. Finally, no studies have examined how self-rated expectations of self-harm risk perform in combination with clinician-administered assessments.…”