Assessment of suicide risk

Suicide risk assessment is a process of estimating probability for a person to commit suicide. The assessment process is ethically complex: the concept of "imminent suicide" (implying the foreseeability of an inherently unpredictable act) is a legal construct in a clinical guise, which can be used to justify the rationing of emergency psychiatric resources or intrusion into patients' civil liberties. Accurate and defensible risk assessment requires a clinician to integrate a clinical judgment with the latest evidence-based practice, although accurate prediction of low base rate events, such as suicide, is inherently difficult and prone to false positives. Risk for suicide is re-evaluated throughout the course of care to assess the patient's response to personal situational changes and clinical interventions. Some experts recommend abandoning suicide risk assessment as it is so inaccurate. In addition suicide risk assessment is often conflated with assessment of self-harm which has little overlap with completed suicide. Instead, it is suggested that the emotional state which has caused the suicidal thoughts, feelings or behaviour should be the focus of assessment with a view to helping the patient rather than reducing the anxiety of clinician who overestimates the risk of suicide and are fearful of litigation. An example of how to do this in practice was recently published in the Scientific American

There are risks and disadvantages to both over-estimation and under-estimation of suicide risk. Over-sensitivity to risk can have undesirable consequences, including inappropriate deprivation of patients' rights and squandering of scarce clinical resources. On the other hand, underestimating suicidality as a result of a dismissive attitude or lack of clinical skill jeopardizes patient safety and risks clinician liability. Some people may worry that asking about suicidal intentions will make suicide more likely. In reality, regarding that the enquiries are made sympathetically, it does not. Key areas to be assessed include the person's predisposition to suicidal behavior; identifiable precipitant or stressors such as job loss, recent death of a loved one and change of residence; the patient's symptomatic presentation; presence of hopelessness; nature of suicidal thinking; previous suicidal behavior; impulsivity and self-control; and protective factors.

Suicide risk assessment should distinguish between and risk. Acute risk might be raised because of recent changes in the person's circumstances or mental state, while chronic risk is determined by a diagnosis of a mental illness, and social and demographic factors. Bryan and Rudd (2006) suggest a model in which risk is categorized into one of four categories: Baseline, Acute, Chronic high risk, and Chronic high risk with acute exacerbation. Risk level can be described semantically (in words) e.g. as Nonexistent, Mild, Moderate, Severe, or Extreme, and the clinical response can be determined accordingly. Others urge use of numbers to describe level of relative or (preferably) absolute risk of completed suicide.

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