In our last “Scientific news and reading suggestion” presented an article shared by one of our members, Professor Stephen Palmer:

“Hearing the Suicidal Patient’s Emotional Pain –
A Typological Model to Improve Communication”
Dunkley, Borthwick, Bartlett, Dunkley,Palmer, Gleeson, Kingdon.

Here is a short summary by Stephen Palmer and Christine Dunkley:

“Suicide is known to be driven, in part, by a desire to escape emotional pain. We wondered how emotional pain communication was transmitted to mental health professionals, and how those professionals picked it up. Using a qualitative study design and thematic analysis we devised a model showing that patients communications can be either spoken or unspoken, and each type may be heard or unheard. We identified 14 factors that influence whether the patient will speak out or not, and whether the clinician will pick up the communication or not. One of the factors that our participants identified was that if patients can actually speak out about their emotional pain, it is often deemed less serious by their care team, than the kind of communication that is picked up non-verbally. Patients also identified instances of good practice, such as when professionals remained in contact with them, making it more likely that they would disclose their emotional pain. This research is important in identifying ways in which clinical practice can improve, some of which have no cost implications”.

You can find it on our report about members’ publications or at this link.

Thanks to Dr Christine Dunkley & Prof Stephen Palmer