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The Aeschi Working Group

MEETING THE SUICIDAL PERSON

The therapeutic approach to the suicidal patient

 
 
     

1ST AESCHI CONFERENCE, 17. - 19 February 2000
UNDERSTANDING ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: DO WE NEED A NEW APPROACH?

 
 
FUTURE EVENTS
 
NEW: www.assip.ch
 
THE BOOK:
BUILDING A THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE WITH THE SUICIDAL PATIENT
 
THE GUIDELINES FOR CLINICIANS
 
PAST EVENTS
1st Aeschi Conference
2nd Aeschi Conference
3rd Aeschi Conference
4th Aeschi Conference
5th Aeschi Conference
6th Aeschi Conference
7th Aeschi Conference (Aeschi West)
8th Aeschi Conference (Aeschi 8)
9th Aeschi Conference (Aeschi 9)
9th Aeschi Conference (Aeschi 9)
10th Aeschi Conference (Aeschi 10)
 
PROBLEMS IN CLINICAL
PRACTICE
The usual clinical practice
Clinicians' attitudes
Patients' dissatisfaction
Non-attendance in aftercare
Treatment failures
 
A PATIENT-ORIENTED
APPROACH
New perspectives
Patients' narratives
Patients' inner experiences
Joining the patient
CAMS
The Narrative Action
Theoretical (NAT) approach
Mental Pain
 
INFORMATIONS
The Aeschi Group
Publications
Links

Sonnenalp Resort

Hotel Aeschi Park
Destination Aeschi
 
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"Dear Konrad
I am glad my message made sense, sounds like we are in synch on this focus. I spoke to Ed Shneidman last night and mentioned our meeting in Aeschi. He was very excited and supportive! There is some important work in all this that we must get out into the field.
Best regards, Dave."

Observing what transpires in emergency clinical interviews following attempted suicide at hospitals in Europe and North America, some of us were sufficiently alarmed to attend a special conference in February 2000. A group of suicide experts (members of the Aeschi-group) from representative centers in Europe and North America convened at Aeschi, a small traditional mountain village situated at the bottom of a mountain called "Niesen" (see picture by Paul Klee), in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, to share experiences, weigh the problems, and to think of improvements.

The participants quickly agreed that following a suicide attempt a patient's emergency assessment experience was likely to be the same, whether in Canada, Israel, Switzerland, or the United States. Ushered into a corner of a busy emergency department, patients are likely to be quizzed in a hurried manner by a physician, or a medical assistant, who will fire a number of questions at them regarding their history of suicide and mental difficulties, hasten them through a check-list of suicide risk factors, and interrogate them respecting their mental state. This examination is likely to be carried out in a half-hour or less. At the end of it patients will feel they have been impersonally processed, had little opportunity to contribute to their own evaluation, and more than likely, will feel bruised and misused by the hospital personnel who hurry along to decide what to do to them by way of a "disposition" - to admit (often by involuntary hospitalization), to refer to the outpatient department, or to send them home.

During the three day conference at a conference Hotel at Aeschi, the conference participants went through a tough programme which included lectures, discussions, presentation of video recorded assessment interviews with patients who had attempted suicide. It was a most stimulating and rewarding experience, and the participants all left full of the Aeschi-spirit.

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The Guidelines for Clinicians 1st Aeschi Conference 2nd Aeschi Conference 3rd Aeschi Conference 4th Aeschi Conference 5th Aeschi Conference 6th Aeschi Conference
The usual clinical practice Clinicians' attitudes Patients' dissatisfaction Non-attendance in aftercare Treatment failures New perspectives Patients' narratives
Patients' inner experiences Joining the patient CAMS The Narrative Action
Theoretical (NAT) approach
Mental pain The Aeschi Group Publications
Links Hotel Aeschi Park Destination Aeschi THE BOOK