CHRONIC CALLERS TO A SUCICIDE PREVENTION CENTER

A study of 24 individuals who called a suicide prevention center a large number of time (more than 10 times) is reported. The most frequent caller had called the center on 173 occasions at the time of analysis. These chronic callers were compared with a sample of callers to the same center who had called only once. One-time callers & frequent callers were matched in terms of age, marital status, possession of children, suicidal history, etc. Frequent callers were found to be very similar in general characteristics to the general pop of callers. They were just as likely to be suicidal risks as the average caller. Several types of chronic callers are described & possible approaches are outlined for dealing with those who reject therapeutic counsel & who appear to need merely to ventilate their emotions. Some of these callers have specific problems, will accept referrals to other community resources & will visit the center. Others avoid questions put to them by the counselor, refuse to focus upon & to discuss their problems & seem to want someone merely to listen to them talk. These callers often arouse a great deal of resentment on the part of the staff, because they make the staff feel ineffective & frustrated in their attempts to help the caller. 4 approaches are possible with such callers, 2 of which seem useful: (1) discourage the callers from calling (unacceptable); (2) just listening (causes hostility on the part of the counselor); (3) limiting the time of the call from the outset (this is considered constructive); (4) keeping a list of chronic callers & having the professional staff formulate a plan, however limited in scope, for dealing with the caller (this seems most constructive). 1 Table. Modified HA.