SOC212 - 7. Suicide Flashcards

1
Q

Introduction

A

Suicide takes place across all age groups (teens, middle-aged + elderly)
process, not a just a single act, that varies between groups, situations + time periods.

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2
Q

Suicidal Behaviour

A

defined as intentional and deliberate destruction of one’s own life.
In Canada, 3700 to 4000 people commit suicide annually.

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3
Q

Suicidal Behaviour

A

Second highest cause of death for youth in Canada

Euthanasia is suicide motivated by desire to avoid suffering that results from disease or injury

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4
Q

Suicidal Behaviour

A

Death caused indirectly by actions without immediate lethal consequences may also amount to suicide

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5
Q

Vulnerability

A

factors that make an individual vulnerable to suicidal behaviour include:
• Mental illness
• Abuse
• Loss of a loved one early in life

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6
Q

Vulnerability

A

• Family history of suicide
• Long-term difficulty with peer relationships
not causal, but combinations can result in suicide

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7
Q

Public Attitudes

A

majority of countries condemn suicide
Some countries have historically approved suicide.
Legal prohibitions - against state’s laws/religion
economy crumbles without ppl

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8
Q

Public Attitudes

A

Social acceptance or condemnation of suicide varies
associated with stigma of mental illness
some countries accept suicide - shame, widows (Japan)
condemnation varies depending on religion and education

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9
Q

Attempted Suicide

A

Suicide attempts may number as many as 20x total number of successful suicides
Women attempt suicide more frequently than men; however, men are more successful

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10
Q

Attempted Suicide

A

CAMH: 200 attempts per day

most occur in settings that encourage or allow intervention by others

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11
Q

Reporting Issues

A

Problems with providing statistics on suicide
Media portrayal
Variance in rates - underreported by authorities and media

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12
Q

Reporting Issues

A

insurance claims: cover ups by family + friends
in response to social stigma
sensitive topic in conversations
when it comes to celebrities - insensitive

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13
Q

Reporting Issues

A

rates fluctuates with economy + war - great depression - went up to 17.4 in 100,000
differ by country + within countries (regions, gender, age)
go down around holidays
rates within military have gone up

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14
Q

Differences

A

Gender Differences

Men tend to use more dangerous or immediately lethal (guns) means than women (chemical or knives)

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15
Q

Differences

A

Age Differences
Men’s suicide rates increase with age, while women’s rates peak at 45 to 54 years of age.
rates increase with age

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16
Q

Differences

A

Race: In the U.S., White people kill themselves at substantially higher rates than that occur among African Americans. In Canada, Aboriginal and First Nations communities have extremely high suicide rates

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17
Q

Differences

A

Marital Status: Married people commit suicide at
lower rates than single, divorced, or widowed people.
social support, economic support

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18
Q

Differences

A

Religion: Suicide rates of Catholics fall below those of Protestants

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19
Q

Differences

A

Sexuality & Gender Identity: LGBT youth face approximately 14x risk of suicide + substance abuse than their heterosexual peers

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20
Q

Differences

A

77% of trans respondents in an Ontario-based survey had seriously considered suicide + 45% had attempted suicide

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21
Q

Differences

A

inverse relationship with education
depression - often undiagnosed and untreated
Occupation and Social Status:
Those with less education are twice as likely to commit

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22
Q

Differences

A

suicide than those with most education

Occupational status, by itself, doesn’t effectively predict suicide

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23
Q

Differences

A

mental illness: depression
often undiagnosed and untreated
suicide result of combination of diff things

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24
Q

Durkheim’s Suicide

A

Durkheim saw suicide as result of degree of social intergration + regulation in a society
prevalence of group unity + strength of ties binding people together.

25
Q

Durkheim’s Suicide

A

Suicide is not individual phenomenon, but consequence of social organization and social structure

26
Q

Durkheim’s Suicide

A
Types of Suicide
• Altruistic
• Egoistic
• Anomie
• Fatalistic
27
Q

Altruistic Suicide

A

Suicide for benefit of others or community
Does not necessarily constitute a deviation
religious rites, warfare, illness, reaction to violating diff norms, military
seen as duty, noble, deviant if we don’t
taking a bullet for president

28
Q

Egoistic Suicide

A

Excessive individualism + low social integration
committed by people who are not strongly supported
more individual

29
Q

Anomic Suicide

A

Suicide when individuals feel “lost” or normless in situations (life has no more meaning)
governed by confused or disrupted social values
Downward social mobility (stock market crashes)

30
Q

Fatalistic Suicide

A

Excessive regulation
Occurs in social conditions where the individual experiences pervasive oppression
rare (prison suicide, slavery)

31
Q

Social and Religious Integration

A

Durkheim’s theory asserts that greater social integration produces a lower suicide rate
integration protective risk factor

32
Q

Social and Religious Integration

A

Suicidal behavior displays an inverse relationship to the stability of social relations among people + extent to
which social institutions, whether religion, family, or others, integrate them together

33
Q

Theories of Suicide

A
Status Integration: status + class influences suicide rate
Status Frustration: status in relation to others, causing aggression which leads to suicide
34
Q

Theories of Suicide

A

Community Migration: dealing with life changes + new culture, low social supports
Socialization of Suicide: learn how to commit suicide

35
Q

The Suicide Process

A

Ringel (1977) identified 3 principal components of predictable suicide syndrome
1) Constricting/narrowing alternatives, leaving problems with an all-consuming image and no way out except suicide

36
Q

The Suicide Process

A

2) certain aggressive response directed toward oneself, perhaps leading to self-blame for an unfortunate accident or some other trauma in one’s life;

37
Q

The Suicide Process

A

3) Indulgence in suicidal fantasies that construct and mentally play out suicidal acts.
suicide process involves unsuccessful attempts of finding alternatives to multiple problems seen as the last resort

38
Q

Social Meanings of Suicide

A

Suicide, Mental Disorders, and Hopelessness: People who commit suicide do not express any identity as mentally deranged or suffer from temporary insanity.

39
Q

Social Meanings of Suicide

A

learn to commit suicide + associate certain benefits
link with mental illness is hopelessness
do not express identity of deranged

40
Q

Social Meanings of Suicide

A

Most suicides follow rational planning + careful execution with no more evidence of mental disorder
many have multiple attempts

41
Q

Social Meanings of Suicide

A

Among mental disorders, severe depression seems to bear most common association with suicide by creating suicidal through (suicide ideation) or behavior.

42
Q

Social Meanings of Suicide

A

suicide ideation: steps

the more complex the plan is, more danger + greater likelihood of success

43
Q

Preventing Suicide

A

Efforts to prevent suicide rely heavily on identification of social forces that ultimately produce suicide

44
Q

Preventing Suicide

A

Research has identified a number of risk factors
Suicide Prevention Centres
no way to know unless in therapy or tells someone

45
Q

Teen Suicide

A

Adolescents cannot evaluate their immediate difficulties in perspective of lifelong events (Clinard & Meyer)
more attention paid onto teen suicide
second leading cause of death for youth in canada
can’t evaluate (perspective) immediate problems

46
Q

Teen Suicide

A

High rates of LGBTQ youth suicide: syndemics
greater mental illness
more of a reaction to homophobic culture

47
Q

Teen Suicide

A

internal homophobia
14x more likely to commit suicide
great percent of gay youth attempt suicide

48
Q

Suicide in Canada

A

10.8 in 100,000 national
suicide rate (2011 – Stats Canada)
ontario: 8 per 100000 - lowest in country
nunavut: 77 per 100000
fairly stable rates, small fluctuation
2009 - 100000 years lost of human life due to suicde
peaked in late 70s - 25 for men

49
Q

Suicide in Canada

A

16.3 in 100,000 for men
5.4 in 100,000 in women
Regional Differences
Military: jumps after discharge

50
Q

Suicide in Canada

A

Aboriginal & Indigenous Population: 2-7x higher rates
aboriginal youth: 11x higher
combination of substance abuse, fetal alcohol, family seperation, abuse, poverty, unemployment, assimilation, intergenerational effects

51
Q

Global Suicide

A

Every 40 seconds someone commits suicide (WHO)
our rates are kind of low
million commit suicide every year

52
Q

Global Suicide

A

2012 - 1.45% of all deaths in world
15th leading cause of death
Factors
mental illness

53
Q

Global Suicide

A

structural reasons: poverty, economic hardship
substance abuse
with each economic crisis rates go up
hopelessness intermingled with poverty

54
Q

Suicide in Japan

A

18.7 in 100,000
Leading cause of death
function of suicide in military - seen as morally responsible on occasion
since 90s, going up disproportionately
leading cause of death for men 20-24, women 15-20

55
Q

Suicide in Japan

A

National social issue
Cultural tolerance: more tolerant, mostly in history
Factors
breadwinner ideology - feel like a failure - shame
depression, social pressures, high social expectations, forced retirement

56
Q

Suicide in Japan

A

economic changes - more difficult to get a job for life
overworked
1/4 financially motivated - debt - commit suicide to lift burden on family
forest: eerie silent forest where ppl commit suicide

57
Q

Euthanasia in Canada

A

Passive Euthanasia: withdrawing life saving procedure, withholding water
Active Euthanasia: intentional killing to relieve pain
considered to be murder

58
Q

Euthanasia in Canada

A

Sue Rodriguez: had als, asked court to let someone help her commit suicide
her main argument appealed to equality and justice
suicide is not a crime, she was being discriminated against, her disability made it so that she could not commit suicide

59
Q

Euthanasia in Canada

A

Sue Rodriguez: On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that the law banning assisted suicide was unconstitutional