Harris L. Friedman

This book explains why suicide can be alluring to a person aiming to stop his or her traumatic pain—whether its source is bullying, sexual assault, war combat, or other PTSD-invoking events—and details approaches that can prevent suicide. Suicide has been a taboo topic in Western culture. The mere mention of suicide sparks reactive responses that include medical, moral, spiritual, and religious debates. As a result, the authors open an important discussion here, offering an honest and non-judgmental examination of the many aspects involved in the nature of suicide, explaining that above all, people need to learn how to support those struggling with suicidal thoughts or to intercept their own suicidal thinking. The book also includes an extensive review and evaluation of the many available mental health treatments. Special consideration is given to military suicides. U. S. soldier suicides exceed one per day and continue to rise in all military branches, while veteran suicide rates are even higher, averaging 17 per day. Communities, families, veterans, and service members are in need of tools and insights for coping with, navigating, and exposing the suicidal attitudes affecting many current and former members of the military.

Functioning successfully within different cultures can be a struggle for many professionals and, as the world changes, it's become clear that working within other cultures, both domestic and international, requires competence in both identifying and transcending cultural boundaries. In this highly approachable volume, the authors provide a robust framework for addressing cultural conflicts within organizations not just for practitioners in the field of consulting and organizational psychology, but for a broad spectrum of professionals, executives, and community leaders. Drawing on case studies that illustrate commonly encountered cultural dilemmas in a variety of practice areas, the authors present applications, assessments, and intervention approaches that are prerequisites for gaining transcultural competence, whether as a consultant, organizational leader, or professional in any number of fields dealing with diversity and globalization. Four steps for identifying and managing cultural dilemmas are described: recognizing, respecting, reconciling, and realizing cultural differences. The authors ably expand on these concepts with real-world examples from their practice – from corporate struggles with native pacific islanders to functioning within the complicated traditions of Native American reservations. The concept of 'cultural traps' associated with often subtle ethnocentric assumptions, and how to avoid them, makes Transcultural Competence an invaluable resource.