Suicidality in childhood and adolescence - Introduction to the special issue

Suicide in adolescence is an issue that concerns not only child and adolescent psychiatrists, but physicians in other fields as well. Avoidable mistakes, such as insufficient suicidal exploration and late or lacking involvement of consultation-liaison child and adolescent psychiatrists, occur during emergency medical aid of children and adolescents after a parasuicide. Patients are most approachable for exploration and therapeutic interventions within the first hours after a paracuide. Therefore, better cooperation and networking of the different helping systems is necessary. Parents, siblings, peers, and teachers should be aware of risk factors and early indicators of suicidality as well as of sources of skilled help. Media play a key role, publishing material about suicidal behavior with a risk of initiating copy-cat suicides; on the other hand, they also provide a means for making the early signs of suicidality and information about adequate help better know.