The Suicidal Patient: Clinical and Legal Standards of Care

by Bruce Bongar

Text for the clinician treating a suicidal patient. Covers standards and guidelines for caring for and monitoring the patient, guidelines for consultation, models of treatment, and models for involving significant others. Previous edition: c1991.

311 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2002

About the author

Dr. Bruce Bongar, Ph.D., ABPP, FAPM, received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and served his internship in clinical community psychology with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. For over 25 years, Dr. Bongar maintained a small practice specializing in psychotherapy, consultation and supervision in working with the difficult and life-threatening patient.

Past clinical appointments include service as a senior clinical psychologist with the Division of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, and work as a clinical/community mental health psychologist on the psychiatric emergency team of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

Dr. Bongar is past president of the Section on Clinical Crises and Emergencies of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology, a fellow of the Divisions of Clinical Psychology (Div 12), Psychology and the Law (Div 41), and Psychotherapy (Div 29) of the American Psychological Association, a fellow of the American Psychological Society and of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and a chartered psychologist of the British Psychological Society.

Dr. Bongar has also been a winner of the Edwin Shneidman Award from the American Association of Suicidology for outstanding early career contributions to suicide research, and the Louis I. Dublin award for lifetime achievement in research on suicidology. In 2008, he was awarded the Florence Halpern award by the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association for distinguished contributions to the practice of clinical psychology.

Since 2001, he has also become interested in the psychology of mass casualty events and suicide terrorism. From 2002-2005, he was the founding director of the National Center on Psychology of Terrorism.

His research and published work reflects his long-standing interest in the wide-ranging complexities of therapeutic interventions with difficult patients in general, and in suicide and life-threatening behaviors in particular.

Reviews

[Zara Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide is honestly one of the most powerful and necessary books I’ve ever come across, and I’m not even exaggerating, this is the kind of resource that doesn’t just inform you, it hits you right in the gut with the reality so many service members and veterans face every single day. The authors don’t sugarcoat anything; they dive straight into the hardest truths about suicide in the military community, breaking down the science, the psychology, the trauma, and the barriers in a way that’s real, relatable, and insanely useful for anyone working with this population. What blew me away is how practical it is, like, you’re not just reading theories, you’re getting step-by-step guidance that clinicians, researchers, and even policy makers can actually use right now, no fluff, no filler, just real talk backed by solid evidence. The coverage is wild, in-depth chapters on PTSD, traumatic brain injury, women in combat, the stigma around mental health in the military, access to firearms, risky behaviors that hide suicidal intention, and the brutal emotional load families carry, and every section feels like the authors are saying, “Hey, we’re not gonna let you face this alone.” This book is honestly a game-changer, the kind of handbook that should be required reading for anyone who even thinks about working with active duty or veteran populations because it has the power to literally save lives. Huge respect to the editors for creating something this comprehensive and this heart-punch real, if you care about our military community at all, this is the book you grab, no hesitation, no second-guessing, because the impact it can make is the real deal.