The Suicide Call—An Affective Learning Experience

Abstract

Dissatisfaction with traditional methods of teaching the topic of suicide to medical students led to the design of an innovative approach, the suicide call. A simulated “patient” places a call to the classroom. Students are chosen to interact with the “patient” via the telephone. Utilizing the telephone adds such a sense of immediacy to the situation that students have difficulty denying their feelings about suicide. Thus, the psychodynamics of suicide can be demonstrated so clearly that there is little resistance on the part of the students.