This work approaches the mind of the suicidal person from the perspective of a person on a dark journey that involves the suicide life story, stress and problems of living, dark ideas, dark emotions, dark physiology, hopelessness, and psychache. The work of the psychotherapist is to join the suicidal person on the dark journey, understand from the person's experience how suicide has come to make experiential sense, and finally affirm and validate the dark journey. In so doing, the psychotherapist builds a healing relationship that offers hope, relief, and skills to redirect the journey to one of light, hope, and possibilities. A multimodal, stage process model of suicide risk assessment and intervention is provided to guide the therapist. Case vignettes are used to illustrate the application of this model to therapeutic practice. Finally, the critical areas of risk management and self-care for the psychotherapist are covered to protect him or her from the emotional and legal challenges of this most difficult work.

The New York Times–bestselling memoir of crippling depression and the struggle for recovery by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Sophie’s Choice. In the summer of 1985, William Styron became numbed by disaffection, apathy, and despair, unable to speak or walk while caught in the grip of advanced depression. His struggle with the disease culminated in a wave of obsession that nearly drove him to suicide, leading him to seek hospitalization before the dark tide engulfed him. Darkness Visible tells the story of Styron’s recovery, laying bare the harrowing realities of clinical depression and chronicling his triumph over the disease that had claimed so many great writers before him. His final words are a call for hope to all who suffer from mental illness that it is possible to emerge from even the deepest abyss of despair and “once again behold the stars.” This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

After her mother took her own life, Wendy Parmley learned firsthand the heartache, despair, and loneliness that accompanies suicide loss. Reinvent your definition of saved, perfect, and forgiveness as you read this true narrative of a woman opening her heart years after her mother's suicide and learn how to overcome any loss in your own life.

NOW WITH A NEW CHAPTER AND AN UPDATED RESOURCES SECTION Suicide has touched the lives of nearly half of all Americans, yet it is rarely talked about openly. In her highly acclaimed book, Susan Blauner—a survivor of multiple suicide attempts—offers guidance and hope for those contemplating ending their lives and for their loved ones. “Each word written with thoughtful intent; each story told with the deepest of honesty and humility, and in doing so Blauner puts forward a life-saving book."—Daniel J. Reidenberg, PsyD, Executive Director, Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (www.save.org) “I continued to romanticize my death by suicide: who would find me; what I’d look like. I spent hundreds of hours planning my funeral, imagining the remorse of my family and friends. I wrote good-bye letters, composed wills, and disrupted the lives of everyone close to me. Then reality hit.”—Susan Rose Blauner The statistics on suicide are staggering. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 800,000 people die by suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds, and for each completed suicide there may be twenty or more attempts. In How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me, Susan Blauner is the perfect emissary for a message of hope and a program of action for these millions of people. A survivor of multiple suicide attempts, she explains the complex feelings and fantasies that surround suicidal thoughts. In a direct, nonjudgmental, and loving voice, she offers affirmations and suggestions for those experiencing life-ending thoughts, and for their friends and family. With an introduction by Bernie Siegel, M.D., this important, timely book has now been updated with a revised resources section, and a new chapter on the author’s experiences since the book’s initial publication.

In this remarkable book, Fenimore describes one life, haunted by abuse and despair, that led to the suicide she thought would give her peace. Instead she entered a realm of terrifying darkness. Beyond the Darkness is unique in the near-death literature because it is the only full-length account of a descent into Hell.

The funniest, most popular kid in school, Charles Aubrey Rogers suffered from depression and later addiction, then ultimately died by suicide. "Diary of a Broken Mind" focuses on the relatable story of what lead to his suicide at age twenty and answers the "why" behind his addiction and this cause of death, revealed through both a mother's story and years of Charles' published and unpublished song lyrics. The closing chapters focus on hope and healing-and how the author found her purpose and forgave herself.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A deeply powerful memoir about bipolar illness that has both transformed and saved lives—with a new preface by the author. Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide. Here Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication.

Growing up in a house where domestic violence occurs is terrifying. It is devastating for the victim and also for the children who witness it. I felt unsafe and alone inside my house and outside in the world most of the time. Traumatic events affect people in different ways I struggled with fear and critical self-talk. My anxiety and nervousness later led to medicating with alcohol and desperately needing validation from others. Turning into a people-pleaser to avoid harm was not a wise thing to do. Rather than protect me, often times, it put me in regrettable situations. When this happened, I would say to myself, How could a nice girl like me behave in such a terrible manner? I began hating myself. I began having panic attacks when I was a teenagerI couldnt breathe and gasped for air. Trauma produced the perfect storm to experience relationship problems, which included a fear of intimacy and commitment. It also produced insecurity and a huge need for connection. I believe I was born to be anxious. I think recovery is about recovering whatever has been lost through trauma, abuse, addiction or neglect.

Konrad Michel, a leading psychiatrist and acclaimed expert, draws on decades of experience to offer necessary new ways of understanding—and preventing—suicide. After one of his first patients died by suicide, Michel devoted himself to researching self-harm. Writing vividly and personally, he recounts more than forty years of working with and learning from suicidal patients. Michel shows that suicide is not just a consequence of mental illness but an action related to a person’s life story. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with suicidal patients, he argues that suicide and suicide attempts occur when someone experiences extreme emotional pain that severely impairs the ability to think and act rationally. Based on this understanding, Michel and his colleagues developed a person-centered approach to treatment that overcomes the limitations of the traditional medical model. Through a brief therapy, patients find a personally meaningful narrative understanding of their suicidal thoughts and impulses. People at risk can learn to recognize their vulnerabilities in order to manage potentially life-threatening situations and keep themselves safe. Michel emphasizes the importance of communication: medical professionals need to connect with patients as individuals to identify specific warning signs. Both compassionate and rigorous, this book provides vital insight into suicide prevention and shows how changing attitudes will help save lives. It includes practical advice for people at risk, with special emphasis on young people, as well as for relatives and health professionals.

Working in the Dark focuses on the authors’ understanding of an individual’s pre-suicide state of mind, based on their work with many suicidal individuals, with special attention to those who attempted suicide while in treatment. The book explores how to listen to a suicidal individual’s history, the nature of their primary relationships and their conscious and unconscious communications. Campbell and Hale address the searing emotional impact on relatives, friends and those involved with a person who tries to kill themself, by offering advice on the management of a suicide attempt and how to follow up in the aftermath. Establishing key concepts such as suicide fantasy and pre-suicidal states in adolescents, the book illustrates the pre-suicide state of mind through clinical vignettes, case studies, reflections from those in recovery and discussions with professionals. Working in the Dark will be of interest to social workers, probation officers, nurses, psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and doctors who work with those who have attempted suicide or are about to do so.