Motivational Interviewing for Means Restriction Counseling With Patients at Risk for Suicide

The restriction of potentially lethal means during periods of high risk has been identified as one of the more promising suicide prevention strategies. The purpose of this paper is to introduce clinicians to means restriction counseling and to describe a Motivational Interviewing (MI) based approach for use with ambivalent or challenging patients. This paper examines empirical support behind legislative efforts for means restriction along with the limitations. It explains the need for means restriction counseling with adults and requisite challenges. For patients who are reluctant, it describes an MI-based approach to means restriction counseling and provides a case example. By the end of the paper, readers should be aware of the potential importance of means restriction counseling and the possible use of an MI-based approach with challenging patients. Means restriction counseling is a promising clinical intervention for suicidal patients and research on MI-based and other approaches is sorely needed.