Addressing suicide risk in primary care: A next step for behavioral health integration

Abstract

Comments on two articles by A. R. Dueweke et al. (see records 2018-24944-001 and 2018-24945-001). The first article reviews evidence for interventions in primary care and the second assesses the ubiquitous two-question "prescreen" of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for detecting patients with thoughts of self-harm. In the second article the authors assess the ability of this measure to identify thoughts of self harm, the ninth question on the full PHQ-9, and show that a substantial number of patients would be missed. These two articles provide excellent starting points for thinking through how to ensure that risk of suicide is identified and addressed in a systematic and useful way. Any clinician working in primary care can use these two articles and the resources they contain to inform efforts at systemic change to reduce suicide risk. (PsycINFO Database Record