Question
What does suicidal ideation mean?
Answer
Suicidal ideation is a term that is often used among clinicians to describe a person who is thinking about, considering, or planning suicide. Getting into suicidal ideation can be tricky because you cannot read someone else's mind, so you do not know necessarily if they are thinking about, considering, or planning suicide.
Therefore, knowing the risk factors and learning how to have those therapeutic conversations with somebody who you suspect might have suicidal ideation is very important, because there are signs for help. That individual's way that they may choose to reach out for help could be very subtle or it could be very direct, thereby making suicidal ideation an important concept to understand.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, Suicide Awareness, Assessment and Intervention for Allied Health Professionals, presented by Nika Ball, MOT, OTR/L, ATP and Angela Moss, PhD RN, APRN-BC.
