Suicide: Where We Are, Where We’re Going, and What’s Keeping Us From Getting There

There is no area of research that brings a complex array of ethical issues into sharp focus more than conducting treatment trials when the focus is on decreasing suicidal behavior and preventing suicide. Historically, suicidal individuals have been excluded from treatment studies because their inclusion was thought to be unethical, unsafe, or too difficult to manage clinically.

This presentation will discuss where the field of suicide intervention research started, the successes and failures we have encountered thus far, as well as the critical issues that still need to be addressed in order to move the field forward. It will include a summary of the suicide intervention research trials to date and the directions the field is heading toward addressing the complex problem of suicidal behaviors.