Touched By Suicide

Chapters

What's INSIDE

INTRODUCTION

Offers an overview of the book, and introduces the concept of rebirth and transformation, noting that suicide is archetypal and universal, that suicide is not necessarily irrational or a result of mental illness, but that it does signal a need for something to die, symbolically, not just literally, and implies new ways of thinking about and treating someone who is suicidal or is a suicide survivor.

SUICIDE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Describes the author’s personal and professional experience of suicide, including her own attempt to end her life and the transformation that followed, narrrating the events that led up to her suicide attempt and the meaning she made of it.

THE WHO, HOW AND WHY OF SUICIDE

Attempts to answer the question of who is most at risk for suicide, what are the means by which people kill themselves, and what are the reasons for doing so? Included are statistics on the relationship between suicide and gender, race, nationality, age, occupation, history of mental illnesses, availability of guns and other demographics. Adolescent suicide and the effect of local, national and global events like war, poverty, pandemics and economic downturns is also addressed.

HISTORICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD SUICIDE

Chronicles the history of suicide, going back to Greco-Roman times and includes stories of suicide in mythology. It describes varying attitudes toward suicide, euthanasia, and assisted suicide, as well as “good deaths,” “sanctioned suicides,” heroic suicides, suicides by monks, soldiers, kamikaze pilots, famous philosophers, and others. It also distinguishes between the perspectives of the various religions and other great thinkers such as the Stoics Plato, Socrates, Cicero, Seneca, Hesiod and Saint Augustine. It includes the question of whether suicide is a sin.

SUICIDE AND THE SOUL

Introduces the concept of soul and how it is impacted by suicide, according to both religion and psychology. Included are beliefs about suicide by famous people who, themselves, committed suicide.

JUNG AND SUICIDE

Addresses the psychological theory of Swiss psychologist C.G Jung as it relates to suicide and the conditions under which suicide might be acceptable. Included is the subject of suicide and individuation, personality type, fate, and the effect of analysis.

MODERN VIEWS OF SUICIDE

Explains how the field of psychology shifted the attitudes of society away from”suicide as a sin” to “suicide as the result of mental illness,” and how this approach changed the way suicidality was treated, to include medication and other medical means. Recent contributions of social psychology, neurobiology, and “depth psychology” have added an even more normalizing perspective to why people commit suicide, which includes both internal and external factors, thus adding to the complexity of why people kill themselves. This chapter underscores the differences between thinking about killing oneself and making a successful suicide attempt.

SUICIDE AND SHAME

Elevates the role of shame in suicidality, especially “toxic” or chronic shame. It examines the neurobiology of shame and distinguishes between shame and guilt, the latter leading to positive action, self forgiveness, and repair. The chapter also describes the sources of shame and discusses the connection between ADHD and shame, narcissism and shame, minority status and shame, and shame in relationships, as well as shame as an impediment to a healthy sense of self.

SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION

Challenges the assertion that depression is the leading cause of suicide, noting that depression is a feeling and not always a mental illness. Combined with other factors, it can contribute to suicide, but is only one of many ways in which suffering is expressed. Hopelessness, despair, resignation and desperation are greater predictors of suicidality, along with unexpressed rage. An analysis of a person’s suicidal depression can often lead to cessation of suicidality and greater psychological growth.

SUICIDE AND TRAUMA

Underscores the importance of trauma in suicidality, pointing out that PTSD was once subsumed under the diagnosis of anxiety, which is as much a contributor to suicide as depression. The chapter discusses the various kinds and sources of trauma, who is most at risk for suicide, based on trauma, and how it can be treated so that it is not a death sentence.

TRANSFORMATION

Describes the process of transformation that while often unconscious, underlies many, if not all, suicide attempts. It explains why consciousness is the basis for transformation and how that can be achieved. It points out that all of life evolves through death, either literally or symbolically, and why an awareness of this is essential to any suicide prevention program. It points out that the process of transformation is revealed in both myth and in nature herself.

A CLINICAL PERSPECTIVE

Describes the treatment of two highly suicidal clients, both bent on carrying out a successful suicide attempt. Only one of them is able to finally accomplish that. The other experiences a life changing transformation, one that occurs over a period of years. Reasons for the difference in outcomes is offered, and conclusions are drawn about the complicated and mysterious nature of suicide.

SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS

Summarizes the findings of the research compiled for this book, including the personal and professional insights. It notes that suicide is not singular in nature, but is complex. It emphasizes that suicidal is not always an irrational act, the consequence of mental illness; that suicide may be heroic, well thought out and considered and may even be meaningful, the culmination of an individuated life, or it may be an unconscious, impulsive or rageful response to suffering that to others may feel tragic. It notes that humans are not the only beings that commit suicide, nor has suicide always been considered a sin. Suicide is universal, archetypal and in some ways beyond our understanding or ability to judge.

APPENDIX 1

Debunks the assertion that seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and weather in general affects suicide rates by comparing the rate of suicide and depression in Seattle with those of other cities reporting high suicide rates but not dark and rainy weather. This demonstrates the difficulty of interpreting statistics in terms of cause and affect, especially statistics on suicide.

APPENDIX 2

Reveals in more detail worldwide and national statistics on suicide rates and the contributing factors such as gender, age, occupation, socioeconomic status, and common means for committing suicide. Statistics on suicidal ideation and the relationship between violence and suicide, and a comparison of suicide and homocide rates are also reported.

APPENDIX 3

Offers an overview of neurobiological and genetic factors in suicide, diminishing the relationship between psychiatric illness and suicide in favor of a multi-factoral approach that includes environmental factors, like social, familial and economic adversity, to name a few.