Resource Tag: HISTORICAL STUDIES

Purposive accidents are described and examples given. These accidents are ones in which the body is hurt in seemingly fortuitous accidents but closer examination reveals they are unconscious wishes of the victim. Freud suggests that they are indirect attempts at suicide. One example is of a man who set up a shotgun trap to catch […]

This article studies suicide in U.S. mental hospital by tabulating various factors, as well as by analysis of 18 patients who committed suicide in a Michigan hospital from 1929-1941. Tables provide data on age, time of day, seasonal incidence, diagnosis & method. Discusses the need for an awareness of the warning signs that often appear […]

Case studies of 25 patients who died by suicide in a NY hospital since 1912 are presented. Most patients presented were between 40-60 years old. Causes for suicide ranged from insomnia, hypochondria, guilt over a spouse’s death and a nervous breakdown. Severe hypochondria, insomnia, guilt, & aggressiveness were common trends in these cases. Half of […]

Suicide rates were obtained for New Zealand from 1889 to 1988. The overall rate for women has been stable since the 1930s, & the male rate showed marked peaks in the early 1930s & in the 1980s. Analysis of rates by age group revealed that the 1930 male peak was due to increases among the […]

Contending theories of homosexual suicide & psychological distress are examined. Historical, social, & political forces which have been instrumental in shaping the scientific & medical response to gay & lesbian psychological distress are discussed. Emphasis is on the need to question the objective validity of scientific theories in order to develop more effective responses to […]

This paper organizes & presents the subject of suicide as found in Jewish sources. Judaism regards suicide as a criminal act & strictly forbidden. The cases of suicide that are mentioned in the Bible & other sources, e.g. Samson, took place under unusual & extenuating circumstances. In general, suicides are not accorded full burial honours […]

The author discusses the text of “A Dispute Over Suicide”, a papyrus dating from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (c.2000-1740 B.C.). The “Dispute” is in the form of a dialogue between an unnamed man & his soul. The man seems to be trying to convince his soul of the desirability of suicide & death while his […]

In the first 3 months of 1927, 26 college students completed suicide. The public began to believe that an epidemic of self-destruction was occurring among college students. However, some observers questioned if a suicide “wave” was truly happening or if, in fact, it was a media creation. Using statistics from the United States Census Bureau, […]

In this letter to the editor, Markowitsch disputes Medalia’s et al reported 2 cases of attempted hanging with subsequent isolated memory defects. He offers numerous examples from the literature of the past 100 years in which the neurological & neuropsychological sequelae of hanging have been discussed. Markowitsch points out that the issues discussed by Medalia […]

The present study compared the suicide rates in 39 states of the USA in 1918-1922 with their rates in 1980. The Pearson correlation between the 2 sets of rates was 0.27, significant but quite low. The mean suicide rate had not risen in 60 years. However, the variation in the suicide rates had decreased noticeably. […]

In this study, deaths among students at Yale University from 1920 to 1955 are analyzed. They are also compared to rates for the general U.S. population. Of 209 deaths, 95% were white males, while 5% were white females. The most common cause of death was accidents (43.8%), then suicide (12%). The number of deaths was […]

This is a comprehensive history of suicide in Victorian & Edwardian England. The first part documents suicide statistics from this era; the second consists of in-depth, personal experiences of suicide among ordinary people; the third reveals the ideas & feelings of Londoners in the 1860’s about suicide; the fourth part describes efforts to prevent suicide, […]

The author reviews the elements of Charles Morris’s approach to values & evaluates their implications for the understanding of self-destructive behavior. Whalley found, in a study of SPC clients, that their values did not differ from those of non-suicidals except for the devaluation of their own lives. 28 Ref. (NBB)

The accuracy of Emile Durkheim’s classic sociological study, Le Suicide, is examined in light of contemporary knowledge. 121 pages. (NBB)

Using past historical studies, Kreitman, the AAS Dublin award winner, discusses the usefulness of a marriage between the 2 main traditions of suicidology: the psychiatric & the sociological as exemplified by Durkheim.

There has been little examination of suicides in the broader historical context. The reappearance of Halley’s Comet suggests larger cycles that interplay with the phenomenon of suicide & research shows that the association between comets, disasters & deaths is great in the minds of our ancestors. Interesting correlations demonstrated by a comparative analysis of historical […]

A wide-ranging discussion of suicide (1951) from religious, legal, moral, & historical viewpoints. Rational suicide, suicide precipitated by a mental disorder, & impulsive suicide are illustrated. Several risk indicators are listed. (NBB)

In 1822 Dr. Falret published a scholarly work on suicide. He reported on the number of suicides in the city of Paris and its environs, on the kind of people who become suicidal, and on the treatments, both physical and psychological, that were used for these patients. In this paper, Falret’s book is examined for […]

The Lundby study is a longitudinal, epidemiological study of mental disorder in the normal Swedish population. The study began in 1947. Ninety-nine percent of the 2550 inhabitants of Lundby were personally examined by psychiatrists. Of the 3563 persons evaluated, 735 died. During the observation period, 28 subjects committed suicide (23 males, 5 females). Due to […]

The author claims to be the first to produce a work in England on the pathological and physiological character of suicide. This study includes philosophical, historical and literary treatment as well as sections on medical jurisprudence.(PM)

In this 1937 article which appeared in the January edition of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, the authors identified suicide as a real question in the university experienced that must be realized & accepted as a matter of fact, & so planned for & managed. Data collected from the mental hygiene unit of the University […]

This is an early study of suicide among primitive people, which was submitted by the author, Jacob Wisse, as his doctoral thesis in 1933. Although Dr. Wisse’s study was primarily descriptive & did not utilize mathematical statistics or samples, it is one of the first works to objectively compare worldwide data. (NBB)

In this article the author reproduces a classic paper from Robert Burton’s “The Anatomy of Melancholy”, published in 1628 at least 13 years before the word “suicide” was first used in the English language. Discusses the many euphemisms for the word “suicide”.