FAMILY-BASED CRISIS-INTERVENTION AFTER SU ICIDE ATTEMPT

Family-based crisis intervention is a means of assessing the suicide r isk following a suicide attempt and, at the same time, a psycho-therap eutic concept for the secondary prevention of suicide. Immediately aft er a suicide attempt, the patient's relevant relationships, most often the family members, are integrated into the diagnostic process, as we ll as in the crisis intervention plan following. The concept is based on crisis theory, family therapy and saluto-genetic considerations. Fo llowing a 7-item model and a case report, the course of a family-based crisis intervention is illustrated in detail. To assess the therapeut ic value of this method, which requires considerable time and commitme nt, controlled comparative studies are indicated.