Are Therapists Willing to Treat Self-Injury?, with Spencer Ellison & Dr. Jennifer Muehlenkamp

In this episode, Spencer Ellison and Dr. Jennifer Muehlenkamp read a hypothetical case vignette of a client who engages in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), has experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviors, or is experiencing significant depression. They then tell us how willing therapists are to treat each case (self-injury vs. suicide vs. depression), if therapists would accept them into their clinical practice, and if it depends on the therapists' (1) liability concerns, (2) comfort/skill confidence to treat self-harm, (3) attitude toward self-harm in general, and (4) attitude towards clients who self-harm.

Learn more about Dr. Muehlenkamp at her University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire faculty page here, and see her growing list of peer-reviewed publications on Google Scholar here. Learn more about Trinity Equestrian Center at www.trinity-ec.com. Below are a couple research studies referenced in this episode:

1. Levi-Belz, Y., Barzilay, S., Levy, D., & David, O. (2020). To treat or not to treat: The effect of hypothetical patients' suicidal severity on therapists' willingness to treat. Archives of Suicide Research, 24(3), 355-366.
2. Groth, T., & Boccio, D. E. (2019). Psychologists’ willingness to provide services to individuals at risk of suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 49(5), 1241-1254.

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The Psychology of Self-Injury podcast has been rated as one of the "10 Best Self Harm Podcasts" and "20 Best Clinical Psychology Podcasts" by Feedspot  and one of the Top 100 Psychology Podcasts by Goodpods. It has also been featured in Audible's "Best Mental Health Podcasts to Defy Stigma and Begin to Heal."

 

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