Antoon A. Leenaars (born 1951) [1] is a Canadian clinical and forensic psychologist practicing in Windsor, Ontario. He is known for his research on suicide. [2]
Leenaars wrote a book about suicide in the military, which he has called a growing problem. [3] He has also dismissed the claim, often made by Canadian politicians, that the country's military has a lower suicide rate than the general population, a claim he describes as "whitewashing". [4] Subsequent research by the Canadian Forces themselves supported Leenaars' claim.
In April 2016, "Key Findings from 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey" was published in a peer-reviewed journal, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. [5] Not only suicide, but suicidal attempts, and suicidal ideation were found to be high (above the general population), as were PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other costs of service. [6]
After Kelly Johnson, a police officer from London, Ontario, shot and killed a retiree and then killed herself, London's police department hired Leenaars to investigate the homicide-suicide, and he subsequently wrote a book about suicide and murder-suicide among police. The book, Suicide and Homicide-Suicide Among Police, was published in 2010. [7]
Leenaars has continued his work in suicide prevention among police and other high risk groups (e.g., military personnel, Indigenous populations); he was among four experts invited to the critical issues in policing series "An Occupational Risk: What every police agency should do to prevent suicide among its officers", hosted by the NYPD-HQ and Police Executive Research Forum. [8]
His most recent book on death scene investigations), whether a death is natural, accident, suicide or homicide (NASH), is entitled The Psychological Autopsy (2017).
Leenaars is the former president of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) and the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) (of which he is the only non-American to be president). He was the founding editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Archives of Suicide Research . He has received, among other awards, the International Association for Suicide Prevention's Stengel Award, CASP's Research Award, and AAS's Shneidman Award. [9]
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, is the thought process of having ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of completing suicide. It is not a diagnosis but is a symptom of some mental disorders, use of certain psychoactive drugs, and can also occur in response to adverse life events without the presence of a mental disorder.
Suicide risk assessment is a process of estimating the likelihood for a person to attempt or die by suicide. The goal of a thorough risk assessment is to learn about the circumstances of an individual person with regard to suicide, including warning signs, risk factors, and protective factors. Risk for suicide is re-evaluated throughout the course of care to assess the patient's response to personal situational changes and clinical interventions. Accurate and defensible risk assessment requires a clinician to integrate a clinical judgment with the latest evidence-based practice, although accurate prediction of low base rate events, such as suicide, is inherently difficult and prone to false positives.
Edwin S. Shneidman was an American clinical psychologist, suicidologist and thanatologist. Together with Norman Farberow and Robert Litman, in 1958, he founded the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center where the men were instrumental in researching suicide and developing a crisis center and treatments to prevent deaths.
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse are risk factors. Some suicides are impulsive acts due to stress, relationship problems, or harassment and bullying. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access to methods of suicide such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental disorders and substance abuse; careful media reporting about suicide; improving economic conditions; and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT). Although crisis hotlines are common resources, their effectiveness has not been well studied.
Norman Louis Farberow was an American psychologist, and one of the founding fathers of modern suicidology. He was among the three founders in 1958 of the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center, which became a base of research into the causes and prevention of suicide.
The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which advocates for suicide prevention. It was established in 1968 by Edwin S. Shneidman, who has been called "a pioneer in suicide prevention." Its official journal is Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, published six times a year by Wiley-Blackwell.
IS PATH WARM? is an acronym utilized as a mnemonic device. It was created by the American Association of Suicidology to help counselors and the general public "remember the warning signs of suicide."
A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is a successful or desirable outcome.
According to the latest available data, Statistics Canada estimates 4,157 suicides took place in Canada in 2017, making it the 9th leading cause of death, between Alzheimer's disease (8th) and cirrhosis and other liver diseases (10th). In 2009, there were an estimated 3,890 suicide deaths.
The relationship between antidepressant use and suicide risk is a subject of medical research and has faced varying levels of debate. This problem was thought to be serious enough to warrant intervention by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to label greater likelihood of suicide as a risk of using antidepressants. Some studies have shown that the use of certain antidepressants correlate with an increased risk of suicide in some patients relative to other antidepressants. However, these conclusions have faced considerable scrutiny and disagreement: A multinational European study indicated that antidepressants decrease risk of suicide at the population level, and other reviews of antidepressant use claim that there is not enough data to indicate antidepressant use increases risk of suicide.
The interpersonal theory of suicide attempts to explain why individuals engage in suicidal behavior and to identify individuals who are at risk. It was developed by Thomas Joiner and is outlined in Why People Die By Suicide. The theory consists of three components that together lead to suicide attempts. According to the theory, the simultaneous presence of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness produce the desire for suicide. While the desire for suicide is necessary, it alone will not result in death by suicide. Rather, Joiner asserts that one must also have acquired capability to overcome one's natural fear of death.
Psychological autopsy in suicidology is a systematic procedure for evaluating suicidal intention in equivocal cases. It was invented by American psychologists Norman Farberow and Edwin S. Shneidman during their time working at the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center, which they founded in 1958.
Suicide in the military is the act of ending one's life during or after a career in the armed forces.
In 2014, the WHO ranked Nepal as the 7th in the global suicide rate. The estimated annual suicides in Nepal are 6,840 or 24.9 suicides per 100,000 people. Data on suicide in Nepal are primarily based on police reports and therefore rely on mortality statistics. However, the burden of suicide in communities is likely to be higher, particularly among women, migrant workers, and populations affected by disasters.
On Suicide: With Particular Reference to Suicide Among Young Students is a 1967 English translation and editing by the psychoanalyst and suicidologist Paul Friedman of the original "Über den Selbstmord insbesondere den Schüler-Selbstmord" by the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. The original piece was published in 1910 in German and includes psychoanalytic discussions from eight members of the society about the causes and explanations for the suicide of students.
Alan Lee Berman also known as Lanny Berman, is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and suicidologist. He is an adjunct professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Berman was formerly the executive director of the American Association of Suicidology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the International Association for Suicide Research. Berman has a private practice in psychological and forensic consultation.
Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP)/L'Association canadienne pour la prevention du suicide (ACPS) was established in 1985. It is a non-governmental organization which brings attention to the problem of suicide in Canada and advocates for services, research, education and other supports in the area of suicide prevention and bereavement, across diverse Canadian cultures. CASP presents an annual conference which provides opportunities for networking and the exchange of ideas and information related to suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.
M. David Rudd is an American psychologist and academic administrator who served as the president of the University of Memphis from 2014 to 2022.
David A. Jobes is an American clinical psychologist. He is currently serving as a Professor of Psychology, Director of the Suicide Prevention Laboratory, and Associate Director of Clinical Training at The Catholic University of America. His areas of focus are on Clinical psychology, Suicide prevention, Clinical Suicidology, Ethics and Risk Management, and clinical risk assessment. In August 2022, he was awarded the Alfred Wellner Award for Lifetime Achievement by The National Register of Health Service Psychologists.
Leenaars, A. (2017). The psychological autopsy: A roadmap for uncovering the barren bones of the suicide's mind". New York, NY & London, UK: Routledge.(https://routledge.com>Leenaars>book) Retrieved 7 March 2021. McFarlane, A. (20160. Accountability for psychological costs of military service.The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 61, Suppl 1, 7S-9S.(https://www.ncbi.nih.go.pmc.articles>PMC4800471) Retrieved 7 March 2021. Police Executive Research Forum (Oct, 2019). An occupational risk: What every police agency should do to prevent suicide among its officers". Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.(https://www.policeform.org>assets>PreventOfficerSuicide) Retrieved 7 March 2021.