The Neuroscience of Self-Directed Violence: Implications for Intervention

In this course, Dr. Chad Luke, Ph.D., LPC, shares a fundamental distinction in self-directed violence (SDV) that recent advances in neuroscience have allowed clinicians to understand. He explains the “5 Es” of reasons why neurobiology should be integrated into treatment for SDV and uses the analogy of amblyopia to show why we need to understand the nervous system of the vulnerable people we work with therapeutically. Quickly outlining several aspects of neuroscience related to suicidal thoughts and behaviours, Luke emphasises that we must treat suicidality as a network issue rather than expecting that it is generated from a single region of the brain. He summarises his 10-dimensional model of five inputs and five outputs to explain how a person’s past is likely to impact on their future. Myriad resources are provided.