It ’s time to create the safety net by normalizing psychiatric care

I’ve thought a great deal about what to say, if anything, about the two suicides recently of two people who were not merely celebrities in the TMZ sense, but people who represented creativity — perhaps in a way that seemed tangible to the rest of us — and seem to have become celebrities almost by happenstance. Suicide is not an unfamiliar or difficult topic for me. After all, I am someone who has spent the better part of the last nine years addressing someone’s struggle with suicide, day in and day out. As a physician, I’ve been exposed many times to untimely death — whether intentional or due to a childhood cancer or a catastrophic accident. As one who specializes in the field of psychiatry, it seems a day doesn’t pass that doesn’t involve suicide — from the contemplation phase, to an act interrupted, and if you practice long enough and in acute, high-risk environments, the aftermath of an act completed enters the scope of your work. I am able to apply the objective, matter of fact step by step prioritization of tasks that a physician’s brain is trained to do when addressing suicide at the first two junctions: contemplation and mid-act. I can quickly assess the risks — what was the plan, what is the access to lethal measures, what are protective factors, and decide to admit a patient for acute stabilization vs close follow-up. I can follow through on steps of resuscitation, the location of cut down kits, Narca...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Psychiatry Source Type: blogs