Suicide (IN: Lives and Deaths: Selections from the Works of Edwin S. Shneidman, edited by A A Leenaars)

This chapter discusses various aspects of suicide beginning with a definition of suicide. The complexities & difficulties with definitions are described. A lengthy review of the main threads in suicide research is followed by a description of the psychological characteristics of suicide. Other topics included are: the two fundamental aspects of death & suicide; attempted suicide; partial death & substitutes for suicide; suicide & religion; suicide & the law; some oddities of suicide; myths of suicide; romantic suicide & the artist; statistics on suicide; & suicide vention(prevention, intervention, postvention).