Als een jongere niet meer wil leven

Any doctor may be confronted with young people who are thinking about committing suicide or intend to commit suicide. According to existing guidelines, these intentions should be taken seriously and these thoughts, intentions and behaviours should be examined in order to get a complete perspective on the origins, levels of concern and primary safety needs. In the case of young people, it is also important to encourage the parents to become involved in follow-up treatment and safety planning, even if the young person is reluctant to inform his or her parents. In most cases, the importance of parental responsibility to provide care and safety trumps the patient’s desire of secrecy, especially in life-threatening emergency situations such as suicidal behaviour. Referral to a mental health facility is often required for further diagnosis and treatment.

Conflict of interest and financial support: potential conflicts of interest have been reported for this article. ICMJE forms provided by the authors are available online along with the full text of this article.