Book description
Self-harm is a distressing and all too common presentation to emergency
departments, and yet there is no clear understanding of what it
represents, and success rates of interventions to prevent future
episodes are enormously variable. Therapeutic Assessment for self-harm
is a pragmatic model, developed by the authors of this book and forming
an organic part of the psychosocial assessment following a self-harming
incident. Its main features are that firstly, a therapeutic intervention
at the time of distress, compared with a standard psychosocial history
and risk assessment, improves patients' responses and their willingness
to engage in further therapy, and secondly, that there is a vast range
of evidence-based interventions that can be used to build a 'toolkit'
that individual practitioners can employ with their patients.
Therapeutic Assessment is evidence-based, simple and easy to learn, and
this book presents the techniques in a clear, accessible and
user-friendly way. Based on extensive research, it will form an
essential reference for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, and
for any health professional involved in the assessment of young people
who self-harm. Dr Dennis Ougrin MB BS MRCPsych, Kraupl Taylor Research
Fellow, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK Dr Audrey Ng MBBCh MRCPsych
MA Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK Dr
Tobias Zundel, MB BS MRCPsych Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation
Trust, London, UK
