Suicide in Adolescents: Using Life Charts to Understand the Suicidal Process

Life charts of psychological autopsy information from multiple informants were used to identify the suicidal process among 27 young people (average age at death of 20.9 years) who died by suicide. Three types of suicidal process were identified: Group 1 characterized by longstanding difficulties which spanned the developmental domains of home, school, & peers. The suicidal process was longstanding. The second group was characterized by evidence of an established psychiatric disorder. Two subgroups, one with a protracted suicidal process & the other with a brief suicidal process, were identified. The third & smallest group was characterized by the emergence of the suicidal process as an acute response to life events. (26 refs.)