Often the test of courage is not to die but to live.
- Orestes
The Connection between Self-Harm, Suicide & Eating Disorders
Many individuals with eating disorders also have symptoms of suicidal thinking and self-harm. Compared to other psychiatric disorders, anorexia has one of the highest rates of suicide. In addition to treating other co-morbid disorders (e.g., compulsive exercise, anxiety, depression, OCD, addiction issues and trauma.), we specialize in the treatment of eating disorders and co-morbid self-harm and suicidality. Individuals with self-harm or suicidal behaviors will have individual sessions targeted at these symptoms in addition to their eating disorder symptoms.
Dr. Mary Bartlett, our Suicide Prevention and Risk Consultant, guides the treatment for managing self-harm and suicidal symptoms among our clients. She writes and reviews policies related to these treatment areas, facilitates internal trainings, conducts external community lectures, and completes assessments. Additionally, Dr. Bartlett manages Magnolia Creek's research projects with Dr. Thomas Joiner and his Florida State University research lab and with Dr. Tracy Witte and her Auburn University research lab on the relationship between self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders.
Dr. Joiner (2005) developed the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS) which suggests that individuals who are at risk for suicide are those who:
- have strong feelings of perceived burdensomeness
- lack feelings of belongingness
- have acquired a capacity to enact lethal self-injury
Individuals with anorexia may be particularly vulnerable to these factors which place them at high risk for suicide. His theory of suicide provides a compelling framework for conceptualizing the high suicide rate for anorexia. This framework may also be helpful in developing interventions for treatment and prevention of suicide in anorexia. Treatments aimed at these factors may assist clinicians in circumventing self-harm and suicidal behaviors in anorexia and may ultimately result in saving lives. Learn more about Dr. Joiner’s theory and work on suicide and its prevention through the following publications:
Dr. Mary Bartlett, PhD
A well known international speaker, Dr. Mary Bartlett is a graduate of Auburn University and an alumnus of the University of Maryland-European Division and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She holds a doctorate in counselor education, has more than 16 years of experience as a mental health counselor, and serves as ad hoc faculty at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. She is a board member of the Alabama chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Alabama National Guard Suicide Prevention Task Force, an authorized trainer for the American Association of Suicidology and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, and serves as a member of the Alabama Suicide Prevention and Resource Coalition. Additionally, she is a board member of the ethics committee for the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals.
Dr. Bartlett is trained in the ASIST approach, a two-day intensive, interactive and practice-dominated course designed to help caregivers recognize and review risk, and intervene to prevent the immediate risk of suicide. It is by far the most widely used, acclaimed and researched suicide intervention training workshop in the world.
Dr. Bartlett is passionate in her commitment to reduce the stigma of suicide, educate clients, families, and communities about suicide prevention and intervention, and advocate for those who struggle with and are personally touched by suicide. Understanding that anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder, Dr. Bartlett brings a knowledge base regarding the correlation between suicide and eating disorders to Magnolia Creek. She hails originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is married to a retired military member who served for twenty-five years active duty.
Contact Dr. Bartlett directly with any questions about Magnolia Creek's self-harm and suicide prevention efforts or our research study with Drs. Joiner and Witte.
Dr. Thomas Joiner, PhD
Dr. Joiner grew up in Georgia, went to college at Princeton, and received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. He is The Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Dr. Joiner's work is on the psychology, neurobiology, and treatment of suicidal behavior and related conditions. Author of over 420 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Joiner was recently awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Residency Fellowship. He received the Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the Shakow Award for Early Career Achievement from the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, the Shneidman Award for excellence in suicide research from the American Association of Suicidology, and the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions from the American Psychological Association, as well as research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, Department of Defense, and various foundations.
Dr. Joiner has authored or edited fifteen books, including Why People Die By Suicide, published in 2005 by Harvard University Press, and Myths About Suicide, published in 2010, also with Harvard University Press. In 2012, Harvard will publish the third book in this series, entitled The Perversion of Virtue: Understanding Murder-Suicide. Largely in connection with Why People Die By Suicide, he has made numerous radio, print, and television appearances, including write-ups in The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London, a radio interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation, and two appearances on the Dr. Phil Show. He runs a part-time clinical and consulting practice specializing in suicidal behavior, including legal consultation on suits involving death by suicide. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife and two sons.
Please pick up a copy of Dr. Joiner's latest book, "Lonely at the Top: The High Cost of Men's Success." This title will be released on October 25, 2011.
http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Top-High-Cost-Success/dp/0230104436
Dr. Tracy Witte, PhD
Dr. Witte is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Auburn University and is the director of the Suicidal Behavior and Body Image Laboratory. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Ohio State University in 2004. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from Florida State University’s Clinical Psychology Program in 2006 and 2010, respectively, and completed her clinical residency at the Brown University Medical School Clinical Psychology Consortium. Her primary research interest is in a construct first introduced by Joiner (2005), which is known as the acquired capability for suicide. Her research program is designed to investigate life experiences and trait-level variables that facilitate the acquisition of the capability for suicide.
In addition to numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, Dr. Witte has co-authored a book, The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide: Guidance for working with Suicidal Clients, on clinical applications of the interpersonal theory of suicide. More information about Dr. Witte can be found on her laboratory website.
