Psychotherapists' attitudes toward suicide.

Rational Suicide: An Empirical Investigation of Counselor Attitudes

“…suggests that these professionals would not apply a great deal of action. The mean in this study of 3.89 is between 3.41 (Werth & Liddle, 1994) and 4.65 (Werth, 1996) obtained in two studies of psychologists. Given that the present mean is near the middle of the scale, this finding clearly indicates a moderate acceptance of rational suicide.…”

“…Werth and Liddle (1994;see also Werth, 1996) reported the quantitative results of a survey of 400 members of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association. On the basis of their 50% response rate, these authors concluded that psychotherapists were "differentially accepting of suicidal ideation" (Werth & Liddle, 1994, p. 440) and reported differing amounts of preventative action as a function of contextual circumstances.…”

“…The purpose of this study was to begin to develop a knowledge base regarding counselor attitudes toward rational suicide by modifying the methodology used by Werth and Liddle (1994) and Werth and Cobia (1995) in their investigations of the attitudes of psychotherapists toward rational suicide (see also Werth, 1996).…”

“…After the announcement of ACA's involvement in the amicus curiae brief in that organization's professional newsletter (Morrissey, 1997a), members of ACA registered protests through letters to the editor (e.g., Battersby, 1997;Duggan, 1997). Although some literature does exist related to the attitudes of psychotherapists toward the issue of rational suicide (e.g., Werth, 1996;Werth & Cobia, 1995: Werth & Liddle, 1994, there has been no research investigating these attitudes specifically for members of a counseling association, and thus no empirically based support for the position (i.e., "Brief-WSPA," 1996) supported by ACA.…”

Suicide in the medically and terminally ill: Psychological and ethical considerations

“…The rationale most frequently given for their point of view was the existence of a hopeless condition such as terminal illness for which there was no foreseeable improvement or relief. In a previous publication on this same topic, Werth and Liddle (1994) reported that psychotherapists viewed suicide that stemmed from a painful terminal illness as significantly more acceptable than suicide in response to such difficulties as chronic physical pain, chronic depression, or catastrophic events such as bankruptcy, etc.…”