Rebuilding the Tower of Babel: a Revised Nomenclature for the Study of Suicide and Suicidal Behaviors. Part 2: Suicide-Related Ideations, Communications, and Behaviors

A revised and refined version of the O’Carroll et al. (1996) nomenclature for suicidology is presented, with a focus on suicide-related ideations, communications, and behaviors. The hope is that this refinement will result in the development of operational definitions and field testing of this nomenclature in clinical and research settings. This revision would not have been possible without the international collaboration and dialogue addressing the nomenclature of suicidology since the O’Carroll et al. nomenclature appeared in 1996.

Although it is doubtful that we will ever be able to construct universally unambiguous criteria to comprehensively characterize suicidal behaviors (and, overall, firmly establish the intention behind them), for scientific clarity it would be highly desirable that the set of definitions and the associated terminology be explicit and generalizable.

De Leo, Burgis, Bertolote, Kerkhof, & Bille-Brahe, 2006, p. 5)