University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work
Abstract
Suicide is a significant societal problem, with vast social and economic consequences. Though
studies suggest that interacting with suicidal clients is highly probable, many social workers lack
the knowledge to manage this difficult task. Recently, research has called for social workers to
reformulate classical theory to advance our understanding of suicidal ideation and behavior. The
current article proposes two explanatory models of suicidal behavior based on divergent classical
theories. Both theories’ underlying assumptions were examined, in order to generate and
compare the resultant models. Such efforts ensure that clinical practice and future research on
suicidal behavior have sound theoretical grounding
