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Parental Loss and Family Background in Attempted Suicide

And Darkness Closes In… A National Study of Jail Suicides

Documentation of suicides during 1979 indicated that inmates commit suicide at 16 times the rate in the general population. A profile of the typical inmate suicide indicated that he was 22 years old, white, single, male & had been arrested for public intoxication. He had no significant history of arrests, mental illness or suicidal behaviour. […]

The Readiness to Cease and the Wish to Die

The Philosophical Roots of the Confidentiality Dilemma

Two competing philosophical systems are examined: utilitarianism & Kantian formalism. The 2 moral outlooks are defined & briefly discussed. The implications that ensue from each of the theories are considered. Utilitarianism favours the interventionist violating the confidence of the suicidal person out of concern for her welfare, whereas formalism favours respect for individual autonomy. As […]

The Differentiation of Alcoholic Suicides From Suicidal Alcoholics

Presentation of the Federal Objective to Reduce the Suicide Rate by 1990

Ratings of Intention in Suicidal Behavior

Degrees of intention have been noted before in behavior of patients who attempt or commit suicide. However, criteria for judging the degree and role of the victim’s effort to achieve self-termination has been lacking. The present report is a description of our efforts to define and quantify suicidal intent as a psychological variable, whether or […]

The First Year

Coming to Terms With Death

Coming to terms with death is a state of awareness in which sufficient acceptance of death’s inevitability permits individuals to plan for an appropriate death. Birth and death punctuate existence but ordinarily are perceived as opposites. Birth is normal, death is abnormal. Indeed death is always pathalogical. The present status of death as a scientific […]

Problems in Studying Suicide

Suicide and suicide attempts are discrete phenomena. No clear predictors have been determined for either event. In principle, suicide should be preventable. This somewhat rambling article discusses many of the variables which have been found to relate to suidial behaviors as of some twenty years ago. Depression & alcoholism are the 2 main predictors of […]

An Approach to the Study of Patient Suicide During Psychotherapy

Suicide of patients during psychotherapy is identified as a significant problem. A review of the literature in this field indicates that suicide during psychotherapy has been viewed as a countertransference phenomenon. In this article, several proximal and distal variables which contribute to suicide during psychotherapy are identified with appropriate illustrations and case examples.

Adolescent Suicide and Family Systems Theory

Crisis Intervention: Quo Vadis?

On Charles Moore’s “The Subject of Suicide”

Charles Moore published an inquiry into suicide in 1790; this article begins with his 12 precautions against suicide. The present author questions the lack of reaction to Moore’s work even though it was known to modern suicidologists. Cutter speculates that western culture conspired to create a suicide taboo which allowed work such as Moore’s to […]

Agoraphobia in Depressive vs. Suicidal States

Overlapping, or rather orderly alternation, of the depressive and suicidal states, each apparently being rooted in a distinct neurophysiological substrate, is discussed around the pivotal phenomenon of agoraphobia (or “heteropseudophobia). The latter seems to herald usually a clinical depression in females, whereas in males it might well be triggering suicidal impulses.

A Suicide Bereavement Group

Suicide in Alberta-Historical Review of Newspaper Clippings 1975-1982

Newspaper clippings on suicidal behaviors found in Alberta newspapers covering the period 1975 to 1982.