Suicide rates have been steadily increasing in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, stigma and lack of access to mental health services prevent many people

from receiving the help they need. In this episode, psychologist and professor Nadine Caslow

talks about what psychologists are doing to enhance the services available to people who are

struggling with thoughts of suicide. I'm Audrey Hamilton, and this is Speaking of Psychology.

We're speaking with Dr. Nadine Caslow, 2014 president of the American Psychological Association.

A tenured professor at Emory University's School of Medicine, Dr. Caslow is also a practicing clinical psychologist.

She is here to talk with us today about suicide prevention and how psychologists are developing new and innovative ways to help those who are suffering.

Thank you for joining us, Dr. Caslow.

I'm delighted to be here.

Suicide prevention is an issue you feel very strongly about, and it has been a focus of your work

throughout your career.

Tell us why you have chosen to spend your time helping those who feel they have nowhere else to turn.

I think my interest in suicide and preventing

suicide began when I was in high school and one of my closest friends' mothers died by suicide. And I saw

the profound impact that this had on her children, her husband, and the community at large,

and the pain and suffering that everyone else experienced. And I believe it was then that I wanted

to do something about it. Then when I became, well, when I was in graduate school actually at the end of my postdoc,

a patient of mine who I was extremely attached to died by suicide, and it was very, very difficult

for me. It was extremely difficult for me personally as well as professionally. I realized, however,

that she chose to die by suicide because she was in so much pain in her life. She was in

such psychic pain and she was hearing voices and having visual hallucinations as well.

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