Common Language
All those who may feel the impact of suicidal behaviors, including those bereaved by suicide, as well as community members and others. A term used to describe all mental disorders that are characterized by a prominent or persistent mood disturbance; disturbances can be in the direction of elevated expansive emotional states or, if in the opposite direction, depressed emotional states. These disorders include depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, mood disorders because of a medical condition, and substance-induced mood disorders. An unpleasant feeling of fear or apprehension accompanied by increased physiological arousal, defined according to clinically derived standard psychiatric diagnostic criteria. Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST): Through a two-day workshop, ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Although ASIST is widely used by health care providers, participants do not need any formal training to attendthe workshop — anyone 16 or older can learn and use the ASIST model. Assessing and Managing for Suicide Risk (AMSR): AMSR is a one-day training workshop for behavioral health professionals. The 6.5-hour training is based on the latest research in clinical care. Participants learn how to provide safer suicide care. Attempt survivor: An individual who has attempted suicide or has experience with suicidal ideation. A state of mental/emotional being and/or choices and actions that affect wellness. Behavioral health problems include substance abuse or misuse, alcohol and drug addiction, serious psychological distress, suicide, and mental and substance use disorders. The term is also used to describe the service systems encompassing the promotion of emotional health; the prevention of mental and substance use disorders, substance use, and related problems; treatments and services for mental and substance use disorders; and recovery support. Bereavement survivor: An individual who has lost a loved one, friend or community member to suicide. Family members, friends, and others affected by the suicide of a loved one (also referred to as survivors of suicide loss). Activities or programs that are in keeping with the best available evidence regarding what is effective.
A mood disorder characterized by the presence or history of manic episodes usually, but not necessarily, alternating with depressive episodes.
An adjective that refers to individuals whose sexual orientation or identity involves sexual, physical, and/or romantic attraction to both men and women.
A health care and community support system that provides behavioral and other health care services to a defined population (e.g., Henry Ford Health System). Caring contacts: Caring contacts are brief communications with patients that start during care transitions. Times for caring contacts, for example, may be during the following: • During transitions from hospital or ED release and outpatient care • When patients drop out of treatment A group of individuals residing in the same locality or sharing a common interest. Completed suicide: Used interchangeably with “died by suicide” to note when an intentionally lethal act of self-injury leads to death.
Plans that use a multifaceted approach to addressing the problem, for example, including interventions targeting biopsychosocial, social, and environmental factors.
The co-occurrence of two or more disorders, such as depressive disorder and substance use disorder.
Feelings of loss, following the death of a loved one, which are debilitating and do not improve even after time passes. These painful emotions are so long lasting and severe that those who are affected have trouble accepting the loss and moving on with their lives. Also referred to “traumatic grief ” or “prolonged grief.” CONNECT: A best practice program from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) New Hampshire affiliate. CONNECT trains communities on best practices in responding to suicides (postvention).
Closeness to an individual, group, or individuals within a specific organization; perceived caring by others; satisfaction with relationship to others; or feeling loved and wanted by others.
A phenomenon whereby susceptible persons are influenced toward suicidal behavior through knowledge of another person’s suicidal acts. Contagion: Sometimes called “copycat” suicide, contagion occurs when an individual’s suicide causes others to attempt or complete suicide. Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM): A best practice, free online skill course to discuss safety and access to lethal means with suicidal patients. The course is for providers who counsel people at risk for suicide. This includes mental health and physical health providers.
A set of values, behaviors, attitudes, and practices reflected in the work of an organization or program that enables it to be effective across cultures, including the ability of the program to honor and respect the beliefs, language, interpersonal styles, and behaviors of individuals and families receiving services. The integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communication, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of a racial, ethnic, faith, or social group.
See suicidal self-directed violence.
A constellation of emotional, cognitive, and somatic signs and symptoms, including sustained sad mood or lack of pleasure.
The study of statistics and trends in health and disease across communities.
The systematic investigation of the value and impact of an intervention or program.
Programs that have undergone scientific evaluation and have proven to be effective. Family support specialists*: Trained and certified family support specialists have experience parenting a child who is any of the following:
Facing or has faced difficulties in accessing health and wellness services due to a mental health or behavioral health barrier.
Those individuals in a community who have face-to-face contact with large numbers of community members as part of their usual routine. They may be trained to identify persons at risk of suicide and refer them to treatment or supporting services as appropriate. Examples include clergy, first responders, pharmacists, caregivers, and those employed in institutional settings, such as schools, prisons, and the military.
An adjective that refers to persons whose sexual orientation or identity involves sexual, physical, and/or romantic attraction to individuals of the same sex.
An individual’s deeply-rooted internal sense of gender. For most individuals, the sex assigned to them at birth aligns with their gender identity. This is not true for some others, however, who identify as transgender.
A broad and high-level statement of general purpose to guide planning on an issue; it focuses on the end result of the work. The complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and outreach workers in community health programs.
The national prevention initiative that identifies opportunities to improve the health of all Americans, with specific and measurable objectives to be met by 2020.
Intervention designed for individuals at high risk for a condition or disorder or for those who have already exhibited the condition or disorder.
A strategy or approach that is intended to prevent an outcome or to alter the course of an existing condition (such as providing lithium for bipolar disorders, educating providers about suicide prevention, or reducing access to lethal means among individuals with suicide risk). Kognito: Online, interactive, best practice courses to develop skills to talk to youth and adults about behavioral health and suicide risk. These courses are for these groups:
Behavioral health providers
An adjective that refers to women whose sexual orientation or identity involves sexual, physical, and/or romantic attraction to other women.
A blanket term that refers to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
Elements in an environment that could be used to support a noose or other strangulation devices (especially, for a suicide attempt).
The instrument or object used to carry out a self-destructive act (e.g., chemicals, medications, illicit drugs).
Techniques, policies, and procedures designed to reduce access or availability to means and methods of deliberate self-harm. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA): A best practice program to teach the skills to respond to the signs of mental illness and substance use. Instructors customize courses to identify and respond to youth and adults with mental health concerns.
Actions or techniques that result in an individual inflicting self-directed injurious behavior (e.g., overdose).
A diagnosable illness characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress that significantly interferes with an individual’s cognitive, emotional, or social abilities; often used interchangeably with mental illness.
The capacity of individuals to interact with one another and the environment in ways that promote subjective well-being, optimal development, and use of mental abilities (cognitive, affective, and relational).
Health services that are specifically designed for the care and treatment of persons with mental health problems, including mental illness. Mental health services include hospitals and other 24-hour services, intensive community services, ambulatory or outpatient services, medical management, case management, intensive psychosocial rehabilitation services, and other intensive outreach approaches to the care of individuals with severe disorders.
See mental disorder.
The high levels of chronic stress experienced by members of minority populations (including lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender populations) as a result of the prejudice and discrimination they experience from the dominant group in society.
A term used to describe all mental disorders that are characterized by a prominent or persistent mood disturbance; disturbances can be in the direction of elevated expansive emotional states or, if in the opposite direction, depressed emotional states. These disorders include depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, mood disorders because of a medical condition, and substance-induced mood disorders.
The relative frequency of illness or injury, or the illness or injury rate, in a community or population.
The relative frequency of death, or the death rate, in a community or population.
Self-injury with no suicidal intent. Same as nonsuicidal self-directed violence (see Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance definitions box at the end of this appendix).
A specific and measurable statement that clearly identifies what is to be achieved in a plan; it narrows a goal by specifying who, what, when, and where or clarifies by how much, how many, or how often.
Persons aged 60 or more years.
A measurable change in the health of an individual or group of individuals that is attributable to an intervention.
A class of mental disorders characterized by deeply ingrained, often inflexible, maladaptive patterns of relating, perceiving, and thinking of sufficient severity to cause either impairment in functioning or distress.
Response to and care for individuals affected in the aftermath of a suicide attempt or suicide death. Postvention: Used interchangeably with “post-suicide intervention.” Best practice postvention refers to the activities after a suicide occurs to assist bereavement survivors with grief and reduce the risk of contagion. A strategy or approach that reduces the likelihood of risk of onset or delays the onset of adverse health problems, or reduces the harm resulting from conditions or behaviors.
Factors that make it less likely that individuals will develop a disorder. Protective factors may encompass biological, psychological, or social factors in the individual, family, and environment.
See mental disorder.
The medical science that deals with the origin, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders.
The science concerned with the individual behavior of humans, including mental and physiological processes related to behavior. Question. Persuade. Refer. (QPR): QPR is a best practice that teaches how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis. Instructors also teach how to question, persuade and refer someone to help. Online and in-person gatekeeper trainings are available. There is also a module for behavioral and physical health providers.
The number per unit of the population with a particular characteristic, for a given unit of time.
Capacities within a person that promote positive outcomes, such as mental health and well- being, and provide protection from factors that might otherwise place that person at risk for adverse health outcomes. Response: A comprehensive high school-based program that increases awareness about suicide among high school staff, students and parents. Program components are designed to heighten sensitivity to depression and suicidal ideation. The program also offers response procedures to refer a student at risk for suicide. The program includes technical assistance for key staff to ensure that suicide prevention efforts continue at the school. *Family support specialists are defined in ORS 414.025 and certified by the Authority’s Office of Equity and Inclusion as required by OAR 410-180-0300 to 0380. Family support specialists meet qualification criteria adopted by the OHA under ORS 414.665.
Factors that make it more likely that individuals will develop a disorder. Risk factors may encompass biological, psychological, or social factors in the individual, family, and environment.
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a step-by-step method that leads to the discovery of a fault’s first or root cause. RCA uses a systematic approach to identify the progression of actions and consequences that led to an undesired event. In the context of suicide prevention, an RCA investigation means tracing the cause and effect trail from a suicide attempt or death back to the root cause. SafeTALK: A half-day alertness training that prepares anyone over the age of 15, to become a suicide-alert helper. This is regardless of prior experience or training. Most people with thoughts of suicide do not truly want to die, but are struggling with the pain in their lives. Through their words and actions, they invite help to stay alive. SafeTALK-trained helpers can recognize these invitations. In addition, they can take action by connecting them with life-saving intervention resources, such as caregivers trained in ASIST.
Written list of warning signs, coping responses, and support sources that an individual may use to avert or manage a suicide crisis.
Administration of an assessment tool to identify persons in need of more indepth evaluation or treatment.
Instruments and techniques (e.g., questionnaires, check lists, self-assessment forms) used to evaluate individuals for increased risk of certain health problems.
Intervention targeted to subgroups of the population whose risk of developing a health problem is significantly higher than average.
Behavior that is self-directed and deliberately results in injury or the potential for injury to oneself. Self-directed violence can be categorized as either nonsuicidal or suicidal.
Injuries caused by suicidal and nonsuicidal behaviors such as self-mutilation. An individual’s sexual, physical, and/or romantic attraction to men, women, both, or neither.
Assistance that may include companionship, emotional backing, cognitive guidance, material aid, and special services. Sources of Strength: A best practice youth suicide prevention project. The project is designed to use the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture, ultimately preventing suicide, bullying and substance abuse
Health facilities where the personnel and resources focus on specific aspects of psychological or behavioral well-being.
Entities including organizations, groups, and individuals that are affected by and contribute to decisions, consultations, and policies. A maladaptive pattern of substance use manifested by recurrent and significant adverse consequences related to repeated use; includes maladaptive use of legal substances such as alcohol; prescription drugs such as analgesics, sedatives, tranquilizers, and stimulants; and illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, hallucinogens, and heroin.
Behaviors related to suicide, including preparatory acts, as well as suicide attempts and deaths.
Behavior that is self-directed and deliberately results in injury or the potential for injury to oneself. There is evidence, whether implicit or explicit, of suicidal intent.
Thoughts of engaging in suicide-related behavior.
There is evidence (explicit and/or implicit) that at the time of injury the individual intended to kill him or herself or wished to die and that the individual understood the probable consequences of his or her actions.
A thought regarding a self-initiated action that facilitates self-harm behavior or a suicide attempt; often including an organized manner of engaging in suicidal behavior such as a description of a time frame and method. Death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior.
A nonfatal self-directed potentially injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior. A suicide attempt may or may not result in injury. Acts and/or preparation toward making a suicide attempt, suicide attempts, and deaths by suicide.
A suicide crisis, suicidal crisis, or potential suicide, is a situation in which a person is attempting to kill him or herself or is seriously contemplating or planning to do so. It is considered a medical emergency, requiring immediate suicide intervention and emergency medical treatment.
Individuals who have survived a prior suicide attempt.
See bereaved by suicide.
The ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data with timely dissemination of findings.
Someone whose gender identity or expression is different from the sex that was assigned to them at birth. Some transgender individuals take steps to physically and/or legally transition from one sex to another.
Term used for an injury that is unplanned; in many settings, these are termed accidental injuries.
Intervention targeted to a defined population, regardless of risk (this could be an entire school, for example, and not the general population, per se). Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK109908
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