Date: December 12, 2022
CAMS treats suicide by targeting the “drivers” patients themselves identify as fueling their suicidality. Prior research mapped suicidal ideation on the Suicide Status Form into four dominant themes — relationships, role responsibility, the self, and unpleasant internal states — but the drivers brought into treatment planning had never been studied. Analyzing 332 drivers from 166 patients across two randomized controlled trials, Lynch, Bathe, and Jobes find the same four themes account for roughly 70% of the data, with direct implications for how clinicians focus suicide-specific care.
Authors: Thomas Lynch, Victoria Colborn Bathe, and David A. Jobes
About the Author
David A. Jobes Ph.D. ABPP
David Jobes, PhD, ABPP, is the founder of CAMS-care, LLC. He began his career in 1987 in the Counseling Center of the Catholic University of America, where he developed a suicide risk assessment tool for college students that evolved into CAMS. Dr. Jobes is now a Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of Clinical Training at Catholic; he has trained thousands of mental health professionals in the United States and abroad in evidence-based assessment and treatment of suicide risk and the use of CAMS.