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Good morning everyone,
The topic I chose to discuss is Psychological Autopsies. A psychological autopsy is a method used to investigate and determine the circumstances surrounding a person’s death, particularly in cases where suicide is suspected. This process involves examining the deceased individual’s life events, stressors, coping mechanisms, relationships, and behaviors leading up to their death. Mental health professionals conduct psychological autopsies by interviewing the deceased person’s friends and relatives to gather information about their character, stress levels, reactions to stress, and any potential sources of tension or conflict in their lives.
Forensic psychology professionals play a critical role in conducting psychological autopsies by applying their expertise in mental health assessment, risk factor analysis, behavioral analysis, and collaboration with other professionals to provide insights into the complex psychological factors influencing an individual’s death by suicide or violence.
The unthinkable agony of losing a child who used a handgun to take their own life was shared by 100 sets of parents who received identical letters from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland in the summer of 2022. The letter invited the parents to think about speaking with researchers from the School of Medicine and Bloomberg School who are running a project to investigate strategies to prevent suicide in young people in order to help increase the understanding of suicide.
Nine families who had lost a daughter and son to suicide between the ages of 17 and 21 concurred. The researchers conducted “psychological autopsies” on the young person who had died by meeting one-on-one with their parents, siblings, and friends over the course of several months. Their focus was on youth suicides using firearms. Their aim was to create comprehensive psychosocial biographies, which are essentially a timeline from childhood to the months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes that precede the suicide. They were led by psychiatrist and suicide researcher Paul Nestadt, MD, associate professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the School of Medicine with a joint appointment in Mental Health at the Bloomberg School.
Just before it happened: Using psychological autopsies to prevent suicide | Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine. (n.d.). Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine. https://magazine.jhsph.edu/2023/looking-for-whyLinks to an external site.Abpp, B. S. P. (2022, February 12). What is a Psychological Autopsy? forensic-evaluations. https://www.psychological-evaluations.com/post/what-is-a-psychological-autopsy
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