Menninger’s Motives for Suicide in Suicide Notes From Germany and the USA

70 suicide notes from Germany & the United States were compared using Menninger’s classic theory of suicide. The notes were age & gender-matched. Each note was judged to see if it displayed one of 3 motives for suicide: anger at others, anger at oneself, or to escape from unbearable pain. No significant differences in prevalence of motives was found between the notes of the 2 countries. This study suggests that suicide note content differs little among industrialized countries. (8 refs.)