Key points

There are some youth who find comfort and a sense of control within a "suicidal identity."

Adults and providers should endeavor to understand how a suicidal identity "works" for a young person.

Within effective suicide-focused treatment an alternative aspirational identity can be crucial for success.

In my lab, we watch dozens of videos of clinicians participating in five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effectiveness of the "Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality " (CAMS) developed in the SPL (Jobes, 2023). Among the ongoing RCTs, I have some observations to share from two particular multisite RCTs that are funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

The first one is a study of college students who are suicidal and see

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