You should refer to the lectures on Suicide along with your text for information to help you respond to these questions.

It should be approximately two and a half  to three pages double spaced.  You may use the first person “I” in this paper. 

Imagine for a moment that a friend comes to you and says the following:    “I know you are studying abnormal psychology and I was wondering if you could help me. My roommate has been making some vague comments about wanting to die and once even said that she wanted to kill herself. I don’t know if this is a real problem and if I should take it seriously, or if she is just saying this stuff to blow off steam or get attention. And I don’t want to make it worse by asking about it. I don’t know what to do. What would you do?

Knowing what you do about suicide and its assessment, what should you advise your friend? In your response, make sure to address the following:

1) any myths or stereotypes about suicidal thoughts or talking about suicide that you are aware of;

2)  any risk or protective factors for suicide that might be important in understanding how “at risk” the person might be;

3) the kinds of questions, if any, that your friend should ask their roommate to assess the seriousness of the problem;

4) the steps they might want to take to protect their friend and themselves from harm if she is seriously considering suicide

Finally, in a separate paragraph, identify and provide either a phone number or email address for three resources on campus or in the local community where you might direct your friend for help.