Teachable Moment Brief Intervention for Suicide Attempt Survivors in an Inpatient Setting

Testing the Efficacy of the Teachable Moment Brief Intervention for Suicide Attempt Survivors in an Inpatient Setting: Effects on Psychosocial and Experimental Pain Outcomes

This study is looking at the helpfulness of a brief treatment targeting suicidality (Teachable Moment Brief Intervention [TMBI]) and experimental pain responses in an inpatient population as well as collecting comparison data from the community.

The proposed study will use an innovative one-session psychotherapeutic intervention called the Teachable Moment Brief Intervention (TMBI) for suicide attempters admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit. A total of 60 patients will be recruited from the inpatient psychiatry unit at Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital and 30 healthy community members for the study. Informed consent will be obtained for all participants and administration of the baseline assessment battery will be completed prior to randomization for patients. Patients will then be randomized to either (a) an experimental group receiving TMBI or (b) a group receiving treatment as usual (TAU). The intervention will consist of no more than 90 minutes (expected mean is 45 minutes for the intervention based upon previous studies of the TMBI) of 1:1 interaction with a study clinician. All participants will complete a follow-up assessment immediately following TMBI, TAU, or a rest period. Further, patients receiving the experimental intervention will then be asked to complete a client satisfaction survey. The aim will be to assess whether TMBI affects psychological, experimental pain, and autonomic nervous system responses as compared to TAU and community controls.

TMBI & TAU (data collection at Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital [LPCH])

Inclusion:

-admitted to LPCH subsequent to a suicide attempt

Exclusion:

• acute psychosis,
• inability to read English, or
• taking narcotic or opioid pain medication

CCG (data collection in the Psychophysiology Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience [PLAN] on the University of Tulsa campus)

Exclusion:

• acute psychosis,
• current suicide ideation,
• history of self-harm,
• inability to read English, or
• taking narcotic or opioid pain medication