Assessment		All suicide attempts should be taken seriously! It doesn't matter how many pills, or how serious or not serious the attempt may have been. Any teenager who has attempted suicide deserves admission to an adolescent unit at least overnight until they can be evaluated by a psychiatrist. If you are unsure of their actual intent, ask them about their mood or if they are suicidal. Some questions you might ask would be: "Have you ever felt so unhappy or depressed that you wanted to hurt yourself or wished that you weren't alive?" "Over the past two weeks, have you ever felt down, depressed or hopeless?" "Have you felt little pleasure or interest in doing things that you previously liked to do?" "Have you ever thought about hurting yourself on purpose?" "Have you ever thought about killing yourself?" "Have you made any suicide attempts in the past?" "Do you have a plan for trying to hurt yourself?" "Is there a gun at home or do you have access to a gun?" "Has anyone that you know committed suicide recently or in the past?" "Is there a history of mental illness in your family?" - if so, you can follow this up with questions about what treatment was received or was effective "Has anything bad happened to you recently?" "Do you use alcohol, marijuana or any other street drugs?" - if you get a positive response, you can use the CRAFFT questions - 2 or more positives on the CRAFFT is significant Return to top of page