Back from the brink: True stories & practical help for overcoming depression & bipolar disorder.

On July 24th, 2004, author Graeme Cowan took pen to paper and said goodbye to his family. “I just can’t be a burden any longer,” he wrote. After four failed suicide attempts, and a five-year episode of depression that his psychiatrist described as the worst he had ever treated, Cowan set out on a difficult […]

Exit Weeping: Understanding Suicide Through the Study of Famous Suicides

This book presents the biographies of 32 individuals, some more famous than others, who died by suicide. The focus is on those aspects of their lives which might have influenced their choice to die by suicide. The concluding chapter reviews what might be learned about suicide through the study of these cases.

Lives and Deaths: Biographical Notes on Selections From the Works of Edwin S. Shneidman

Shneidman is a father of contemporary suicidology. His work reflects the intensive study of lives lived & deaths, especially suicides, & is the mirror to his mind. His contributions can be represented by 5 categories: psychological assessment, logic, Melville & Murray, suicide, & death. His works on suicide can be further divided into 5 parts: […]

The Stengel Research Award: the man

The Ringel Service Award: the man

The Death of Loving: Maternal Identity as Moral Constraint in a Narrative Testimonial Advocating Physician Assisted Suicide

This article considers the narrative testimonial as a rhetorical form in the service of public judgment, with particular attention to the witness’s credibility & communicative competence. The author argues a narrator & witness, as a participant-observer of the events recounted, must generate a story that does not compromise her credibility as a moral agent within […]

You’ll See, Mr. Atkinson (IN: Sudden Endings, by M J Meaker)

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Ask My Patients to Forgive Me…. (IN: Sudden Endings, by M J Meaker)

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The Shining Example (IN: Sudden Endings, by M J Meaker)

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Silence, Shadows, Shhhh, $$$$$ (IN: Sudden Endings, by M J Meaker

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David Lester: a Prodigious Researcher in Suicidology

A Lesson for me, Dear Sister

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Lives and Deaths: a Tribute to Edwin S. Shneidman

Published in “Back to the Future: Refocusing the Image of Suicide,” ed. by J L McIntosh

Book Review-The Unknown Sorokin: his Life in Russa and the Essay on Suicide, ed. by D Vagero, A Strickley, and I H Makinen, with P Sorokin

Patriot’s Reward (IN: Sudden Endings, by M J Meaker)

The Little Swordsman (IN: Sudden Endings, by M J Meaker)

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The Bitter One (IN: Sudden Endings, by M J Meaker)

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The Missing Pieces of the Puzzle: a Reflection on the odd Career of Viktor Frankl

For commentary on this article by K Biller, J I Levinson, & T Pytell, please see SIEC #2005-0331

Durkheim, Emile (IN: Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, vol.1: A-K, ed. by R Kastenbaum)

This encyclopedia entry discusses the life of Emile Durkheim, whose detailed study of suicide (Le Suicide, 1897) made him one of the most influential figures in the founding of modern sociology. An overview of Durkheim’s theory of suicide is provided & the distinctions he posited between egoistic, altruistic, anomic, & fatalistic types of suicide are […]

Building a Foundation for Suicide Prevention: the Contributions of Jack C. Smith

In this paper, the authors document the role of Jack C Smith in the development of the public health approach to suicide prevention. They also articulate the conceptual basis for a public health approach to suicide & discuss future directions for public health in the prevention of suicide & suicidal behavior. (51 refs)

A Memoir of Suicide Book Review-The Eclipse. A Memoir of Suicide by A Gambotto

The author reviews the book “The Eclipse. A Memoir of Suicide,” by Antonella Gambotto, calling it “a brilliant, moving book.” The book describes the author’s experience of the suicide deaths of both her lover & her brother, which the reviewer finds to be “partly a literary work on grief, a portrayal of the suffering & […]

Appendix: the Philosophy of Suicide as Understood by Some of the Experienced World Suicidologists (IN: Suicide Risk and Protective Factors in the New Millennium…)

For the complete proceedings, please see SIEC #2004-1401

Joey Coyle: the man who Found $1 Million

This article is a biography of Joey Coyle, the Irish-American who found over $1,000,000 dollars in Philadelphia & died by suicide 10 years after being acquitted of criminal charges. Details about his drug addiction, public support during his trial, & contract with Disney to portray his story are included. His drug-induced paranoia is cited as […]