counselors elsa should consider the safety of the client

Posted by yixue327
1
Jun 19, 2010
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Homicidality can have significant consequences for other individuals who may be the focus of aggressive intentions; for society, given the large financial obligation involved in subsidizing treatment and legal costs of clients with homicidal behavior; and for clients themselves in terms of personal distress and loss of social freedom. By better understanding factors that predict homicidality, counselors can improve their ability to preempt psychosocial tiffany key pendant crises. If homicidality is suspected, counselors can most easily and effectively intervene by assessing and counteracting active psychotic symptoms, manic-like symptoms, and poor insight into the need for treatment. Specific counseling strategies for working with clients with homicidal behavior can be adapted from literature on suicide assessment and treatment.

Similar to working with suicidal clients (Rogers, 2001a), homicide risk assessment should focus specifically on data related to homicidal risk factors such as homicidal ideation, intent, and level of planning. This assessment should include the combination of a clinical interview, information from more formal assessment measures, and the gathering of collateral information from third-party sources (e.g., family members). If time or client compliance is limited, counselors can narrow their evaluation to relevant situational factors (e.g., inability to endure perceived social stressors), cognitive factors (e.g., thoughts about tiffany jewelry on sale how to eliminate current suffering), affective factors (e.g., anger and aggressive tendencies), and relational factors (e.g., communication of the intent to remove another individual from one's life). Although homicidality involves a complex set of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, counselors must ultimately evaluate lethality markers (homicidal thoughts, threats, gestures, or past attempts to commit violent acts; Schwartz & Rogers, 2004).

If homicidality is apparent, counselors elsa should consider the safety of the client and his or her potential target as a high priority. Although the standard treatment protocol may include psychiatric interventions, such as establishing renewed compliance with medications, the introduction of new medications, or a briefhospitalization (APA, 1997), counseling interventions are also crucial. That is, counselors are not limited to initiating and reinforcing psychiatric interventions, they can also begin psychosocial treatments mat may de-escalate the underlying reasons for the client's homicidality. It is likely that as clients with psychosis begin to participate in psychosocial (e.g., empathie and cognitive-behavioral) interventions, the downward spiral of functional abilities can be minimized (see APA, 1997, for a complete description of treatment guidelines for clients with psychosis).
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