Blog posts with the tag "Suicide"

Over the years I’ve worked with a variety of patients and learned a few lessons along the way about efficiency… especially when it comes to the use of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies (EBPs). As a graduate student, I had very little exposure to EBPs and I was thoroughly immersed in existential and client-centered therapy. As I entered the military for my internship year I had my first introduction to protocol-based treatment and I was very skeptical. That year and the subsequent years have been transformative in the way I approach my patients' problems.

Years ago, when I was on active duty, I was called to serve as the psychologist on a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in the case of a recent suicide of a Service member at the installation. While every suicide is a unique loss, this loss crosses my mind frequently. The husband and his wife, returned home very late one night from a date night and began to argue. As the argument escalated, he fatally shot himself. Although there were many precipitating factors, I have often wondered – would it be different if this had happened during the day? Did he feel it was so late he had no one to call and nowhere to go? Was he tired and exhausted?”