Chapter 9 - Suicide Flashcards
What rank is suicide in the most common causes of death
- Number 10
- More people die by suicide than homicide (42,773:15,809)
Parasuicides
Unsuccessful attempts at suicide
What is the estimated number of deaths per year by suicide? How many in the U.S?
- 1 million
- more than 42,000
What is suicide psychologically?
a breakdown of coping skills, emotional turmoil and a distorted view of life
Definition of Suicide
- an intentional death
- a self-inflicted death in which one makes an intentional, direct and conscious effort to end one’s life
Edwin Shneidman
- defined suicide
- created categories of the 4 kinds of suicidal people (death seekers, death initiators, death ignorers, death darers)
- believed that the key to suicide was “psychache”
Death seekers
These people clearly intend to end their lives at the time they attempt suicide.
Death Initiators
- These people clearly intend to end their lives but they act out in belief that the process of death is already underway and that they are simply hastening the process
- Suicides among very sick and elderly fall in this category
Death ignorers
These people do not believe that their self-inflicted death will mean the end of their existence. They believe they are trading their life for a happier or better existence.
Death darers
- These people experience mixed feelings, or ambivalence about their intent to die, even at the moment of their attempt, they show this ambivalence in the act itself.
- Risk taking behavior does not guarantee death
Subintentional death
- Created by Shneidman
- When people play indirect, covert, partial or unconscious roles in their own deaths
- Rx mismanagement, alcohol and tobacco use, recurrent physical fighting, self-injury, self-mutilation fall into this category
Retrospective Analysis
- A kind of psychological autopsy in which clinicians and researchers piece together data from the suicide victims past
- Family, friends, therapists and physicians try to recall past statements, conversations and behaviors
- Suicide notes also help in this category
Studying people who survive their suicide attempts
- 12 nonfatal attempts for every one fatal attempt
- However, these people can have important differences from the people who took their lives
Religious affiliations and belief’s
- Explain for the national differences in number of suicides
- Countries that are catholic, Jewish or Muslim tend to have lower suicide rates
- Poland, a largely roman catholic country, has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world
- Now believe that your devoutness to your religion has an impact on suicide prevention
What is the percentage of guns used by males and females in suicide
- 62% of males
- 37% of females
How much more likely are women to attempt suicide?
women are three times more likely to attempt it but men are three times more likely to actually die
Who has the highest suicide rate out of the races?
American Indians followed by Non-Hispanic white Americans
What are the common triggering factors of suicide?
- stressful events
- mood changes
- thought changes
- alcohol and drug use
- mental disorders
- modeling
How much more likely are veterans to commit suicide than nonveterans?
twice as likely
what situations and stressful events trigger suicide
- Social Isolation
- Serious Illness
- Abusive or Repressive Environment
- Occupational stress