CW: suicide, forced hospitalization

Did you know that risk of suicide actually increases after an involuntary hospitalization? The only strategy upheld by the mental health system actually makes the problem worse:

Source: Jordan, J. T., & McNiel, D. E. Perceived coercion during admission into psychiatric hospitalization increases risk of suicide attempts after discharge. Qin P., Nordentoft, M.Suicide risk in relation to psychiatric hospitalization: evidence based on longitudinal register

Did you know that predicting suicide using risk assessment tools is no more accurate than flipping a coin?

Source: “Risk Factors for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis of 50 Years of Research." by Joseph Franklin, PhD, and Jessica Ribeiro, PhD, Vanderbilt University and Harvard University

“Our analyses showed that science could only predict future suicidal thoughts and behaviors about as well as random guessing. In other words, a suicide expert who conducted an in-depth assessment of risk factors would predict a patient's future suicidal thoughts and behaviors—

with the same degree of accuracy as someone with no knowledge of the patient who predicted based on a coin flip. This was extremely humbling — after decades of research, science had produced no meaningful advances in suicide prediction.” - Dr. Joseph Franklin

Forced treatment deters youth from accessing mental health care and engaging fully and honestly with providers.

Source: Dr. Nev Jones @viscidula: “Investigating the Impact of Involuntary Psychiatric Hospitalization Youth and Young Adult Trust and Help-Seeking in Pathways to Care”

“The single most pervasive theme revolved around participants’ sense of their involuntary hospitalization experiences as punitive rather than therapeutic—observations grounded in the frequent involvement of police officers in initiation and transport, inpatient practices such as—

strip searches and the confiscation of personal items, the overall sense that facilities were more jail-like than therapeutic, and of course the attitudes of hospital staff.

A subset of participants told us how the first thing they learned from other patients, once admitted, was to “lie” to staff about any ongoing suicidal ideation or mental health challenges and “put on a happy face” in order to be released.” - Dr. Nev Jones