Suicide Attempt Risk in Youths: Utility of the Harkavy–Asnis Suicide Scale for Monitoring Risk Levels

The Harkavy–Asnis Suicide Scale (HASS), one of the few self‐report scales assessing suicidal behavior was evaluated and ideation, was evaluated and predictors of suicide attempts (SAs) were identified with the goal of developing a model that clinicians can use for monitoring SA risk. Participants were 131 pediatric emergency department (ED) patients with suicidal behavior. The HASS and Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC‐IV) were administered approximately 2 months after ED presentation. When compared with DISC‐IV ratings, sensitivity of the HASS SA items was excellent (100%), and overall classification accuracy was 72%. SA planning was the strongest predictor of SAs.     

Healthy Lifestyle,Well-being,Physical Activity,Sport, and Scholastic/academic Performance: Interactions and Connections

The physical activity and sport are key elements for a healthy lifestyle. However, a little-investigated element is the presence of a possible relationship between school or academic performance and the participation in physical activity and sport in groups of preadolescents and adolescents. In order to clarify the complex relationship between mind and body in preadolescence and adolescence, the present discussion investigates the causal and direct relationship between sport activity and performance; and describes how this relationship can be mediated by the sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy; and investigates the relationship between group sports practice and school or academic performance.     

Symptom utilization in strategic therapy

Five techniques of symptom utilization have been presented in an interactional strategic approach. They are: utilization of peers, utilization of the desire to grow up, utilization of personal ambition and future expectations, utilization of an antagonistic relationship, and utilization of sibling rivalry. Emphasis is placed on helping the therapist develop a way of thinking to approach difficult problems.     

Esperanza and the Melancholy of Otherness: A Discussion of “A Country of Two: Race and Social Class in an Immigrant Therapeutic Dyad”

Santiago Delboy’s paper, “A Country of Two,” (this issue) focuses on race and class relations in an immigrant treatment dyad. In this discussion I will further examine racial tension from the perspective of the perverse pact, the main features of which are dissociation and amnesia, and the disavowal of hatred and hostility. The perverse pact is an essential feature of White colonial culture as well as of North American White identity and it can impact the dialogue in an interracial therapy duo. I will also comment on the melancholy of Otherness in the context of race, class as well as immigration.