Citation

Fine MA, Sansone RA. Am. J. Psychother. 1990; 44(2): 160-171.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Dayton, OH 45469-0001.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2195899

Abstract

Managing suicidal behavior of individuals with borderline personality disorder presents both therapeutic and ethical/legal dilemmas. It is argued in this paper that clinicians treating borderline individuals need to carefully discriminate "acute" from "chronic" suicidal states. For "acute" suicidal situations, traditional management approaches are appropriate. However, for "chronic" situations, common among borderline individuals, traditional management approaches may be therapeutically counterproductive. A number of proposals for managing chronic suicidal behavior are reviewed. Unfortunately, current ethical standards and laws have evolved from considering suicide in an "acute" context and are insensitive to the "chronic" situation. Recommendations are made for clinicians to effectively manage chronic suicidal behaviors within present ethical and legal guidelines, and some suggestions for legal reform are offered.

Language: en