Resource Tag: EXISTENTIAL THEORIES

Background: Evidence indicates that people whose mental health problems lead them to require psychiatric hospitalization are at a significantly increased risk of suicide, and the period of time immediately following discharge after such hospitalizations appears to be a particularly high-risk time. Aims: This paper reports on phenomenological findings from a federally funded, mixed-methods study that sought to better […]

Background: Evidence indicates that people whose mental health problems lead them to require psychiatric hospitalization are at a significantly increased risk of suicide, and that the time immediately following discharge after such hospitalizations is a particularly high-risk time. Aims: This paper reports on phenomenological findings from a federally funded, mixed-methods study that sought to better understand the observed […]

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

The purpose of the present paper is to suggest that the suicide of Ellen West, which was argued by Binswanger (1958) to have been the correct & necessary path for her to take, might more correctly be viewed as a case of psychic homicide. The author explores what this phenomenon is, & how it pertains […]

The empirical data on the relationship between suicide & suicide attempts are interpreted as suggesting that the contemporary assessment & intervention approaches to suicidal individuals are, by & large, ineffective. The authors focus on the crisis intervention model as one example & suggest that the crisis intervention approach to responding to suicidal patients is at […]

This chapter discusses 1 psychological outlook on Islamic suicidal terror, with 3 basic assumptions: 1) suicidal terrorism is seen as heroism that mega-overcompensates for inferiority & as a search for fulfilling peak experiences (psychopathology is dismissed as a possible explanation for the behavior); 2) this heroism & sacrifice are aimed at a domestic audience – […]

This essay presents a justification for suicide. Rather than asking what the purpose of life is, it asks the question, why bother to live? The author emphasizes that living is a personal choice made over & against the existential option of suicide.

This paper utilizes Nietzsche & the 17th Century Japanese Zen Master Bankei as antidotes to the nihilism that prompts teenage self-destruction. Both thinkers offer counsel addressing the overwhelming hopelessness & self-lacerating regret youth can feel when confronted with societal demands to capitulate. Distinguishing between consummatory actions & acts of fulfillment, the paper plays with “bridging” […]

This chapter analyzes philosophical tenets regarding suicide offered by Camus, the Stoics, the Epicureans, & the Existentialists. Issues of free will, consent, involvement, abstract liberty & repetition of events throughout history are discussed. The philosophical tenet that the world is absurd is evaluated according to the attitudes of various philosophers. The author notes that suicide […]

This article is an English translation. The original Spanish text is also available.

In this paper the author argues that a narrative approach to understanding assisted suicide has been compromised by the notion that all narratives cannot seem to cohere or be both coherent & unified. He questions what society is to do with those narratives that cannot seem to cohere or be other than full of disunity, […]

A professional ethic is a gyrocompass pointing in a precalibrated direction. It neither trumps all countervailing claims nor capitulates to anyone. This article argues that grounding legal permission for suicide in a medical professional ethic is unnecessary & misleading. The premise that suicide must be medicalized to be licit improperly shifts the authority for the […]

This is an essay by French philosopher Camus, who states that the ultimate philosophical question is suicide, as it askes whether life is worth living. The relationship between individual thought & suicide is discussed. Suicide is confessing that one does not understand life. Camus tells the story of Sisyphus, who, because he enjoyed life, was […]

This article examines the experience of surviving a suicidal act. An existential-phenomenological approach is used. Survivors’ psychological suffering & their potential for finding in this experience an opportunity for growth are addressed. A dialectical resolution of the paradox of life & death is described as the catalyst for transcendence. Particular attention is given to the […]

This article describes “The Trial” by Franz Kafka. The book is about a limitless bureaucracy & one man’s helplessness to fight against it. The article also describes Kafka’s home life, in which he was dominated by his overbearing father, was frequently depressed & often attempted suicide. With his writing, his usual pattern was to spend […]

Offers a primer on the major sociological, psychological, & existential theories of suicide that lead to a discussion of suicide in European education prior to & at the advent of the 20th century. Literature of suicide in American colleges & universities is reviewed in depth, especially after 1950, discussing studies of incidence, sex differences, personality, […]

Discusses existential & biomedical views of suicide & presents ethical & empathetic dilemmas arising from both perspectives. Addresses questions such as “Is life worthwhile or not?”; “Does the individual never or always know what he or she wants?”; & “Is length or quality of life more important?” 61 refs. (LH).

Native American adolescents are at high risk for suicide attempts & completions. This chapter discusses Native American suicide trends, treatment issues such as intentionality, self-report measures, diagnostic protocols & the use of the DSM-III; treatment approaches such as client roles, psychoanalytical & existential foundations, family & systems therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy & group therapy & implications […]