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Why We Created the Survey

The survey was created to give survivors of coercive psychiatric interventions a space to share information about what happened to them. As people who have been psychiatrized, knowledge is consistently produced about us and for systems that have and continue to harm us. This survey is designed for the co-creation of knowledge by and for a marginalized community without the intervention of systems we have identified as harmful. This information will be free and made accessible to people with these experiences.

We believe there is inherent value in communities being involved in the production of their own knowledge, particularly since epistemic injustice has kept us from being considered accurate reporters of our own experiences. The prioritizing of academic means of knowledge production is rooted in paternalism, and we reject the assumption that knowledge only matters or is meaningful when it is designed by people who have had the privilege to participate in higher education.

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Participant Information

Age

Range: 11-75

Median Age: 39

Modal Age: 25

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Participant Identities

Trauma Survivor: 66%

Lived Experience with Substance Use: 25%

Disabled Person/Person with Disability: 36%

Neruodivergent: 12%

Person of Color: 8%

LGBTQIA+: 32%

Mental Health Consumer/Client: 79%

Psychiatric Survivor: 47%

Ex-patient: 30%

Person of Size: 22%

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Experiences with Suicidal Thoughts

Age of First Suicidal Thoughts

Range: 5 years old - 55 years old
Average: 16 years old
Modal Age: 12 years old
Median Age: 14 years old

Disclosure: Who We Told

Parent/Guardian: 22%
Trusted Adult: 13%
Friend: 32%
Mental Health Worker: 35%
Teacher/School Staff: 13%
Medical Professional: 18%
Posted Online/Social Media: 9%
People Found Out without Consent: 9%
No One: 38%

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Impact of Disclosure

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Results of Disclosure

Police/911/Welfare Check: 48%

Psychiatric Hospitalization: 86%

Medical Hospitalization: 36%

Emergency Department: 71%

Jail/Incarceration: 3%

Certification/Civil Commitment/ Long-Term Hospitalization: 12%

Residential Treatment: 20%

Religious/Spiritual Intervention/ Treatment: 7%

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Experiences with Hospitalization

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Compelled, Threatened, or Pushed into Voluntary Treatment

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How We Were Compelled

Threatened with Involuntary Treatment: 42%

Pressure from Family: 26%

Gatekeeping to other Treatment or Meds: 21%

Needing a Place to Stay: 4%

Pressure from Provider: 10%

No Other Options: 25%

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Helpfulness of Our Hospitalizations

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Harmful Experiences

Sexual Assault by Staff: 1%

Physical Restraints: 31%

Chemical Restraints: 22%

Seclusion: 31%

Staff Physically Touched or Restrained: 23%

Hate Speech: 7%

Misgendering: 5%

Assaulted by Staff: 4%

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52%

Of us experienced no change or worsening of suicidal thoughts after hospitalization.

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53%

Attempted suicide after hospitalization

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78%

Experienced symptoms of PTSD related to hospitalization

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Would we tell providers about future suicide crisis?

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How effective was the hospital at addressing the concerns that led to our suicidal thoughts?

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ADDITIONAL QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS FROM SURVEY

100% of POC respondents were involuntarily hospitalized
100% of POC respondents experience 7+ PTSD symptoms following hospitalization
100% of POC respondents attempted suicide following hospitalization
Men & Trans+ people were more likely to be involuntarily hospitalized, women more likely to experience “involuntary voluntary”
84% of queer participants experienced identity based discrimination in hospitalization
Men & Trans+ people were more likely to experience seclusion and restraint
Involuntary admissions were more likely to experience seclusion and restraint

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SURVEY OF PROFESSIONALS

43% of providers encounter suicide on weekly basis, additional 25% monthly
⅔ say suicide is adequately covered in professional training, but it is only required in one graduate program in CO (MSW at DU)
33% had gatekeeper training (not assessment or management training)
72% would find evaluation and management training helpful

CONSENSUS AMONG SUICIDOLOGISTS THAT CLINICIANS MAKE POOR DECISIONS ABOUT FORCED TX WHEN THEY ARE NOT PROPERLY TRAINED

Suicide is an issue that often confronts these clinicians. Forty-three percent report they deal with suicide on a

weekly basis, and an additional 25% say they deal with suicide once or twice a month.

Nearly two-thirds said that suicide was adequately covered during their professional training. Forty percent reported

they had received only 1 to 10 hours of education on this topic, and 36% said they’d received more than that.

Respondents were also asked what kind of suicide- focused training (usually taken after completion of a professional

degree, when in practice) they had taken. Thirty-three percent said they had taken one of the three best-known,

evidence-based trainings (ASIST, SafeTalk or QPR), and 21% replied they had received some other kind of training.

Seventy-two percent of respondents replied they would find a clinical training focused on the evaluation and

management of suicidal patients helpful – clearly indicating a need for more training. A recent survey of hospitals

evaluating the implementation of HB12-1140 found that hospital personnel (who are most likely to treat those who

have attempted suicide) also have a need for more training.

Providing more and better training for mental health professionals should be part of a strategy to reduce Colorado’s

high suicide rate. Policy options include: 1.) incorporating this content into the curricula of some or all health

professionals (this approach would produce results over the long run as graduates go into practice); 2.) working with

the Colorado Behavioral Health Council to develop a CE training module (about suicide) that could be implemented in

all community mental health centers in the state; 3.) though possibly controversial, introducing Matt Adler type of

legislation that would require suicide-specific CE for re-licensure or re-certification for at least the majority of mental

health providers.