This is a book for people who are struggling to find their way out of a cave of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts—and for anyone who cares for someone who’s been lost in that cave. Suicide is now the leading cause of death among young adults 18-34, and the fourth-leading cause of death among the middle-aged. Just as a computer’s hardware determines its foundational capabilities and its software determines how it interfaces with the world, humans’ hardware is tied to our biology and our software dictates how we relate to others and ourselves. Together, these parts of our identity determine our functionality, limitations, and possibilities. We become the story we have decided to live inside. When Jesus said, “I have come to set captives free,” He meant that He came to “de-bug” our programming. Jesus invites us to partner with Him to bring to the surface and then move past our debilitating bugs. This book is a conversation between a minister and a psychiatrist. Informed by the clinical realities of anxiety, depression, and suicide, the authors draw from the transformational relational strategies of Jesus to chart a path into life and freedom.

New edition of an acclaimed manual which uses the solution focused approach to take an empathetic and validating approach to working with individuals considering suicide. Offers invaluable guidance for suicide prevention by showing “what works” in treating those struggling with suicidal thoughts Provides straightforward ways to deal frankly with the subject of suicide, along with a range of tools and techniques that are helpful to clients Includes actual dialogue between practitioners and clients to allow readers to gain a better understanding of how to work with suicidal clients Compares and contrasts a ground-breaking approach to suicide prevention with more traditional approaches to risk assessment and management Features numerous updates and revisions along with brand new sections dealing with the international landscape, blaming the suicided person, Dr Alys Cole-King’s ‘Connecting with People’, and telephone work with the suicidal, Human Givens Therapy, and zero suicide

To convince yourself or someone else that suicide isnt the answer, you must first accept this reality: For some people, it is the answer. When Frank Selden came home from a tour in Iraq, having been deployed as a member of the Washington Army National Guard, he was a changed man. He went from being a loving father, supportive husband, and proud soldier to someone who no longer loved his country or his own life. He lived for several years under a dark cloud and tried killing himself four times. He should have died each time, but something providential intervened. In The Suicide Solution, he examines how he regained his joy for living and initiates an honest discussion on suicide, including its benefits. Making blanket statements such as, There is nothing to gain wont do anything to prevent suicide among those who see it as an attractive option. With an average of twenty-two veterans killing themselves every single day and with suicide being the second leading cause of death in the 15 to 34 age group, its time to rethink suicide from the ground up.

That downward spiral, depression, the depression that would nearly do me in, loomed over my adulthood. The desire to kill myself was as present to me as anything else I knew at the time. And here I still am, trying to get out from under that monstrous legacy, trying to get free. If I could get free, if I could be as happy as I once was, as many people seem to be today, I would be extremely grateful.

Respectful and effective solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) for suicidal clients Few tasks are more important—and daunting—than to help someone who is suicidal to go beyond the darkness of hopelessness to the light of hope. Hope in Action: Solution-Focused Conversations About Suicide is a unique resource providing fresh approaches to treating individuals and families where suicide is an issue. This comprehensive book provides a thorough grounding in using a solution-focused therapy approach to elicit and reinforce hope and reasons for living. Strategies are demonstrated with stories, case vignettes, and transcripts. Special applications include some of the most challenging high-risk clients that therapists treat, including people who make repeated attempts. This powerful resource offers a set of practice principles based on the existing empirical evidence in the context of clinical utility and client expertise. Hope in Action: Solution-Focused Conversations About Suicide provides case transcripts to help in role-play or rehearsal situations as well as numerous practical tips. The book also provides lists of solution-focused questions for use in various situations, including suicide crisis, the use of anti-depressant medications, facilitation of collaborative working relationships with colleagues as well as clients. Each application chapter gives therapists practical, hands-on tools and uses stories and illustrations to make the book user-friendly. The text also offers a brief appendix on the basic skills of SFBT. Topics discussed in Hope in Action: Solution-Focused Conversations About Suicide include: current knowledge about preventing suicide at the individual level helping clients to utilize their strengths even when they are in crisis how research in diverse areas supports the solution-focused approach effective treatment for couples and families when one member is suicidal basic approaches to effective therapy with young children and teens who have attempted suicide respectful, effective therapy with people who seem to have adopted being suicidal as their primary coping strategy therapeutic tools that help the therapist to stay hopeful about clients and strengthen the therapeutic relationship Hope in Action: Solution-Focused Conversations About Suicide is a valuable resource for counselors and therapists at every experience level.

This is a frank, compassionate book written to those who contemplate suicide as a way out of their situations. The author issues an invitation to life, helping people accept the imperfections of their lives, and opening eyes to the possibilities of love.

"When I joined the Air Force in 2005, hostilities in Iraq were escalating, resulting in more frequent and longer deployments for just about everyone serving in the military, including psychologists. Soon thereafter, the suicide rate among military personnel also started to rise, especially in the Army and Marine Corps. During the first few years of that upward trend, the general sense was that the military was just having a few "bad years." In 2008, however, the age- and gender-adjusted Army and Marine suicide rates surpassed the U.S. general population rate. By the time I deployed to Iraq in February 2009, the military suicide rate had been rising steadily for three consecutive years; the initial assumption that we were simply experiencing a few bad years had dissolved, and an uncomfortable recognition that we had a clear problem on our hands had taken hold"--