Outpatient art therapy with a suicidal adolescent female

Résumé

This article suggests that suicidal adolescents can be treated on an outpatient basis using art therapy. Since art therapy was first reported as an intervention with adolescents, it has been used extensively to treat teenagers who are emotionally disturbed, sexually abused, have substance abuse disorders or eating disorders, and who are hospitalized. Literature concerning this treatment modality in work with suicidal adolescents has been restricted to its application to inpatient group therapy, without reference to its use on an individual basis in outpatient settings. The dearth of such literature is surprising given that annual estimates of suicide attempts by youth from 15 to 24 years old surpass one million in the United States and 130,000 in Canada . These estimates correspond to a rate of completed suicides in 1997 of 11.4 per 100,000 in the United States, 13.7 in Canada, and 22.1 in the province of Quebec. CANADA QUÉBEC ÉTUDE-CAS ADOLESCENT FEMME THÉRAPIE ART DÉPRESSION TROUBLE-STRESS-POST-TRAUMATIQUE ESTIME-SOI DÉSESPOIR COLÈRE NÉGLIGENCE