Abstract
General Principles of Assessment (IN: Lifelines: Clinical Perspectives on Suicide, ed. by E L Bassuk, S C Schoonover & A D Gill)
Bassuk E L
Many individuals at mental health clinics do not present with an explicit complaint related to suicide nor do they reveal their self-destructive intent. Thus, the evaluator should elicit information from all patients about suicidal thoughts & preoccupations. This chapter describes a clinical checklist for the evaluation of suicide that integrates both statistical & clinical indicators of risk. An appendix contains various rating scales. (28 refs.)