Articles of Interest - Feb. 3, 2010

Hi, All!

I am reviving this blog as a way to post links to articles of interest for NSH staff. For this week, here are the links to 2 such articles along with their abstracts (Note that the links are titles of the articles, highlighted in green):

1) "Contracting for Safety with Patients: Clinical Practice and Forensic Implications", Journal of the American Society for Psychiatry and the Law, 37(3): 363-370 (2009) If after reading the abstract at this site (which is also listed below), you wish to read the full text of the article, click on the links on the right side of the page.

Abstract:
The contract for safety is a procedure used in the management of suicidal patients and has significant patient care, risk management, and medicolegal implications. We conducted a literature review to assess empirical support for this procedure and reviewed legal cases in which this practice was employed, to examine its effect on outcome. Studies obtained from a PubMed search were reviewed and consisted mainly of opinion-based surveys of clinicians and patients and retrospective reviews. Overall, empirically based evidence to support the use of the contract for safety in any population is very limited, particularly in adolescent populations. A legal review revealed that contracting for safety is never enough to protect against legal liability and may lead to adverse consequences for the clinician and the patient. Contracts should be considered for use only in patients who are deemed capable of giving informed consent and, even in these circumstances, should be used with caution. A contract should never replace a thorough assessment of a patient's suicide risk factors. Further empirical research is needed to determine whether contracting for safety merits consideration as a future component of the suicide risk assessment.

2) "Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Effective for Depression and Anxiety",Current Psychiatry, 8(12) December, 2009.

Abstract:
Briefly describes what Mindfulness is, how to teach it, what therapies employ mindfulness, and how mindfulness benefits clients. Describes the current research indicating the effectiveness of mindfulness. Gives instructions on Becoming a Mindfulness-Based Instructor.

In addition to these articles, I just recently received the following articles from the UK that you may be interested in: New guidelines for the Non-pharmaceutical Management of Depression and Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for Mental Health Services. Both of these sites have downloadable pdf articles on their respective topics.