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Jerome Motto

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Jerome Motto (October 16, 1921 – January 4, 2015) was an American psychiatrist who conducted the first suicide prevention intervention that reduced deaths by suicide, as proven through a randomized controlled trial.[1] The study involved mailing short letters that expressed the researchers' interest in the recipients without pressuring them to take any action.

A caring letter sent by Motto to his patient
A caring letter written by hand

Motto's approach is sometimes called the "Caring Letters" model of suicide prevention.[2][3] The technique involves letters sent from a researcher who had spoken at length with the recipient during a suicidal crisis.[3] The typewritten form letters were brief – sometimes as short as two sentences – personally signed by the researcher, and expressed interest in the recipient without making any demands.[3] They were initially sent monthly, eventually decreasing in frequency to quarterly letters; if the recipient wrote back, then an additional personal letter was mailed.[3] The approach was partly inspired by Motto's experience of receiving letters during World War II from a young woman he had met before being deployed.[4] Although the exact mechanisms have been debated, researchers generally think that they communicate a genuine interest and social connection that the recipients find helpful.[3]

Caring letters are inexpensive and either the only,[3] or one of very few,[2] approaches to suicide prevention that has been scientifically proven to work during the first years after a suicide attempt that resulted in hospitalization.

Jerome Motto died on January 4, 2015, at Mills Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame, California.[5]

Publications

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  • Motto, J. A. (1976). "Suicide prevention for high-risk persons who refuse treatment". Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 6 (4): 223–230. ISSN 0363-0234. PMID 1023455.

References

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  1. ^ Cherkis, Jason (November 15, 2018). "The Best Way To Save People From Suicide". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Luxton, David D.; Thomas, Elissa K.; Chipps, Joan; Relova, Rona M.; Brown, Daphne; McLay, Robert; Lee, Tina T.; Nakama, Helenna; Smolenski, Derek J. (March 2014). "Caring letters for suicide prevention: implementation of a multi-site randomized clinical trial in the U.S. military and Veteran Affairs healthcare systems". Contemporary Clinical Trials. 37 (2): 252–260. doi:10.1016/j.cct.2014.01.007. ISSN 1559-2030. PMID 24473106.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Nock, Matthew K. (May 8, 2014). The Oxford Handbook of Suicide and Self-Injury. Oxford University Press. p. 375. ISBN 9780190209148.
  4. ^ Cherkis, Jason (November 15, 2018). "The Best Way To Save People From Suicide". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  5. ^ "Dr. Jerome A. Motto". San Francisco Chronicle. April 26, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2019 – via PressReader.
[edit]
  • The papers of Dr. Jerome Motto in suicide and depression. Papers include research files, manuscripts, reprints, and conference materials
  • Research summary at Stanford University's SPARQ (Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions)