Hello and welcome to the Psychiatry and Psychotherapy podcast, with over 32,000 mental

professionals listening every episode.

Why?

Because we need to stick together to survive a mental health field.

I'm here to talk about getting rid of burnout, increasing jobs satisfaction, and feeling

like an expert in what you do.

Welcome back to the podcast.

Before I bring in a Jagger Aquaman who is a fourth-year medical student who did a really good

job digging into a ton of studies for this episode on suicide, I'd like to say a little bit

about treating people with suicide.

You know, as a psychiatrist, as a therapist, I attempt to closely approximate the reality

of someone's experience, and I try to put that into words as closely as I can.

When you first hear someone's suicidal thoughts and feelings, I like to clarify and make sure

I'm understanding them and make sure that they're feeling understood.

I usually try to put it into words, echo back to them, try to say something like, hey,

I hear you feel that there's no way out, that you feel lost, and that it's like a very

dark time for you, and I just want you to know that I hear that you feel like there's

a desperation in how you feel.

And I ask myself continually, how can I be present with them in the midst of their despair?

I often hear some people say they feel uncomfortable putting it so strongly.

They want to soften it.

They want to initially say to someone like, oh, there's so much life to live for.

...