Preventing Suicide: The Solution Focused Approach

by John Henden

New edition of an acclaimed manual which uses the solution focused approach to take an empathetic and validating approach to working with individuals considering suicide.

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Megan]

I read the 2nd edition of this book. The writing style was amateurish and painful; it did not read like an academic or clinical text. As I was reading it, I became surprised it was published in its current form and had made it to a second edition. There were many claims made that should have been backed up by evidence or references, but weren't. There were grammatical errors. I was keen to learn more about the solution focussed approach to suicide prevention as a frontline mental health clinician, but this book put me off it. I found the ideas presented simplistic and the author's biases against the "medical model" were undermined by the lack of academic rigour. I found the multiple - almost gratuitous - assertions throughout the book that people take their own lives because of interactions with health professionals unhelpful in a book aimed at health professionals interested in suicide prevention (and the author lacked detailed evidence to back up the repeated claim). The author also used outdated terms such as "successful suicide" multiple times in the 2017 2nd edition. There are many far better clinical texts in the field of suicide prevention than this one.

[Robert Bogue]

Being focused on finding solutions is a good thing. Preventing Suicide: The Solution Focused Approach applies a solution-focused brief therapy approach to suicide prevention. I struggle with the approach, because I’m afraid that it may minimize real challenges that a person has faced and prevent them from coming to terms with their trauma. On the other side, I see the value in not dwelling on the past and focusing on the sense of agency that is likely lacking.

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[Brian Turner]

Amazing resource and would recommend to all both professionally and non professionally.

[Jong Yik Khoon]

Provide a very clear guideline for professionals and public to help people with suicide issue. Techniques provided in book are easy to understand and very effective.