Main description:

The second edition of Half in Love with Death gives therapists new tools to help manage chronically suicidal patients. Clinicians will learn how to tolerate suicidality, understand the inner world of patients, avoid repeated hospitalizations, and focus on life situations that maintain suicidal ideas and behaviors. The new edition includes a number of major updates and a new chapter on the epidemiology of suicidality.

Each chapter develops a theoretical perspective based on empirical data, and many are illustrated by clinical examples. Topics addressed throughout the text include:

distinctions among various types of suicidality
the inner world of the chronically suicidal patient, with a particular focus on pain, emptiness, and hopelessness
the relationship between chronic suicidality and personality disorders, especially the category of borderline personality
the effectiveness of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for chronically suicidal patients
the risks of litigation in managing this patient population.

This is a crucially important resource for clinicians who treat chronically suicidal patients, one that provides enlightened and evidence-based guidelines.

Contents:

Introduction 1. Suicidality and Suicide 2. An Epidemiological Perspective on Suicide, Suicidality, and Self-Harm 3. The Inner World of the Chronically Suicidal Patient 4. Suicidality in a Developmental Context 5. Chronic Suicidality and Personality Disorders 6. Myths of Suicide Prevention 7. Psychotherapy Research and Chronic Suicidality 8. Pharmacotherapy and Chronic Suicidality 9. Tolerating Chronic Suicidality 10. Managing Chronic Suicidality 11. Suicidality and Litigation 12. Summary: Guidelines for Therapists