Prediction and Prevention: Mistakes We Need to Stop Making in Suicidology

Rates of death from heart disease, stroke, drunk driving, homicide, and other public health problems have fallen substantially. Yet, suicide deaths have not declined. Why is suicidology not doing better? This presentation will highlight the problems with over-focusing on prediction as an avenue for prevention -- sometimes even conflating prediction with both understanding and prevention -- and provide examples of how other fields of health and science have improved prevention without strong real-world prediction.

Presenter:

E. David Klonsky, PhD

E. David Klonsky, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He has more than 100 publications on suicide, self-injury, and related topics, and his contributions have been recognized by awards from the American Association of Suicidology, Association for Psychological Science, and Society of Clinical Psychology (APA). He is Past-President of the International Society for the Study of Self-injury, Associate Editor of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, and has advised the American Psychiatric Association for DSM-5 and both the US and Canadian governments regarding suicide and self-injury prevention. In 2015 he published the Three-Step Theory (3ST) of suicide.