Legal encounters may offer overlooked opportunities for suicide prevention, analysis suggests

Picture a forlorn man walking into a lawyer's office after his marriage has collapsed. The bank is threatening foreclosure, and his finances are in tatters. His problems may be legal on paper, but in person they can look far more complicated: panic, shame or the numb resignation of someone who can no longer imagine a way out. He did not come for counseling, and his lawyer is not a therapist. Still, the attorney may be sitting beside him at the worst moment of his life—with a chance to help before despair slides into tragedy.