Childhood Trauma and Subsequent Suicidal Behavior (IN: Suicidology: Essays in Honor of Edwin S. Shneidman, edited by A A Leenaars)

In this chapter the author looks at answering the following question: Once extreme stress disequiliberates the cognitive schemata of a child, is that child so warped by horror thathe or she seeks to try to escape life, or does he or she cope with the circumstances and become adept at growing? In answering this question the author concludes that only a small proportion of those traumatized will be at risk for pathology. Part of this pathology will be a tendency towards suicidal behaviour. (67 r.)