[Autonomy promoting policy for complex chronic suicidality]

Suicidality is prevalent in mental healthcare settings. A small subset of patients exhibiting severe, chronic suicidal tendencies place a significant demand on healthcare services. Existing guidelines offer insufficient guidance, and crisis interventions often yield counterproductive results. This culminates in a pattern of securing and controlling, lacking adequate prospects for recovery and potentially causing harm to the patient. In order to develop a more effective treatment approach, an autonomy promoting policy (APP) has been formulated by the authors. In this article the background and dilemma’s surrounding the APP will be described based on a fictional patient case, and describes how the guide helps in these situations.