Synopsis

This clinical manual offers essential tools and guidance for therapists of any orientation faced with the complex challenges of assessing and treating a suicidal patient. In a large, ready-to-photocopy format, the book provides step-by-step instructions and reproducible forms for evaluating suicidal risk, developing a suicide-specific outpatient treatment plan, and tracking clinical progress and outcomes using documentation that can help to reduce the risk of malpractice liability. In addition to providing a flexible structure for assessment and intervention, The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) approach is designed to strengthen the therapeutic alliance and increase patient motivation. Highly readable and user friendly, the volume builds on 15 years of empirically oriented clinical research.

Reviewer: Steven T. Herron, MD(University of Arizona Health Sciences Center)
Description: In an effort to develop a tool for clinicians to use in the assessment of suicidal patients, the author presents an approach known as the Collaborative Assessment of Management of Suicidality (CAMS).
Purpose: Despite the advancing literature about suicide, there remains relatively little for clinicians to use reliably in the approach to managing suicide risk. This book attempts to address this area using a comprehensive and collaborative tool for mental health providers.
Audience: While of interest to anyone in the field of mental health, this book is primarily written for those individuals on the front lines, treating the mentally ill, and more specifically, those with either chronic or acute suicidal ideation.
Features: Beginning with an overview of what knowledge is lacking in the area of suicidal assessment and treatment, and progressing through the presentation of the CAMS risk assessment tool (including the Suicide Status Form-III) and its implementation and utilization, this book also includes numerous appendixes containing forms and coding instructions for this system.
Assessment: Though I have only a passing familiarity with other instruments used in the assessment of suicidality, I have read much of the literature on suicide assessment and treatment, and agree a more structured and thorough approach to this problem might lead to improved understanding and outcomes for these patients. This proposed system is both complete and has the benefit of being able to be modified to fit the individual circumstances of each patient regarding the nature of their suicidal ideation. The comprehensive approach could prove quite useful clinically, though my primary concerns regarding this approach are its cumbersome nature and the relative lack of data for more chronic patient populations who generally are the most challenging to treat. I look forward to reading additional data as this system is tested on other populations to determine its overall reliability and validity.

Biography

David A. Jobes, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at The Catholic University of America, where he is also the Codirector of Clinical Training of the PhD clinical psychology program. With research interests in suicidology, he has published extensively in the field and routinely conducts professional training in clinical suicidology. Dr. Jobes is a consultant to the U.S. Air Force Suicide Prevention Program and is a clinical consultant to the Psychology Service of the Washington, DC, Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He has served as a consultant to various Washington, DC, area counseling centers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Jobes is Associate Editor for the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. He is a past president, treasurer, and board member of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) and is a recipient of the AAS Edwin S. Shneidman Award in recognition of early career contributions to suicidology. As a board-certified clinical psychologist (American Board of Professional Psychology), Dr. Jobes maintains a private clinical and forensic practice at the Washington Psychological Center.