A Note on Attempted Suicide

A study was made of 84 patients who attempted suicide in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. Most of the cases suffered from drug overdoses. The majority were young women. Of 64 women, 48 were married and only four were single. The occupations of both men and women were generally of low social status. Half of the patients' occupations were described as ‘domestic duties’ or ‘domestic’. The proportion of attempted suicides (by religion) was approximately the same as would be expected on the basis of the percentage of persons in each religious denomination as represented by the 1966 census, with the exception of three religions.     

Help for Those Bereaved by Suicide

Summary Thirty-one people widowed by the suicide of a spouse were askedabout their needs following the bereavement. All had needs ofsome kind, most of them being met by relations. Nevertheless,more help could easily have been given by professional people.We make proposals here aimed at increasing the awareness ofthose who cope with the aftermath of suicide. They could domore to ease the burden for survivors.     

Client Suicide

Abstract

Mourning a suicide can be a difficult, complicated experience for family and friends. A therapist's bereavement can be even more complex. The multitude of feelings is often unspoken and/or unattended by colleagues, loved ones, and themselves. This article explores some defenses, both helpful and unhelpful, that one clinician used to process the event.     

Preventing Suicide: A Neglected Social Work Research Agenda

Social workers encounter suicidal clients; however, little isknown about social work’s empirical knowledge base forsuicide assessment and treatment. In the first comprehensivestudy of social work’s contribution to the suicide literature,the authors conducted systematic electronic and manual searchesfor suicide research published in peer-reviewed journals bysocial work investigators for the period 1980–2006, withthe purpose of ascertaining the state of clinical knowledgerelated to suicide risk factors and effective treatments. Thesefindings reveal that despite recent increases to the study ofsuicide by social work researchers, they have contributed limitedevidenced-based knowledge in the last twenty-six years on thetreatment or prevention of suicide or suicide-related behaviours.The article outlines the risk factors for suicide and discussesthe implications for clinical social work practice and research.     

Protest Suicide: A Systematic Model with Heuristic Archetypes

Suicide as a form of political protest is a little studied social phenomenon that cannot be dismissed simply as being irrational or patholognomic. We consider protest suicide to be a meaningful social action as purposive political act intended to change oppressive policies or practices. This paper synthesizes theoretical propositions associated with suicide in general, and protest suicide in particular, so as to construct a general explanatory model of protest suicide as a social phenomenon. Then, it analyzes protest suicide as a meaningful social action. People considering protest suicide have to discern the logic of the situation in which such action is to take place. This involves answering two fundamental questions: Is suicide an acceptable course of social action? Is the envisaged protest suicide likely to achieve their hopes, aspirations and goals? How these questions are answered gives rise to a set of protest suicide archetypes. Our analysis generates a more sophisticated understanding of the potential reasons for, and motivations behind, protest suicide as a social phenomenon.     

The Association of Suicide Rates with Individual‐Level Suicide Attitudes: A Cross‐National Analysis*

Objective. Research on the predictors of individual‐level attitudes toward suicide has neglected the possible role of contextual‐level predictors. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by assessing the association between suicide rates and the attitudes of individuals. Based on social learning theory, it is argued that persons socialized in nations with relatively high rates of suicide are more likely to be exposed to suicidal role models, which provide positive definitions of suicide. Methods. Data refer to 40,873 adults in 31 nations, and are taken from the World Health Organization and World Values Surveys. Given the bi‐level nature of the data, hierarchical linear modeling techniques (HLM) are utilized. Additional predictor variables are incorporated from previous research and include religious participation and political orientation from social learning theory, marital status and life satisfaction from control theory, and basic demographics such as age and gender. Results. The results of the HLM indicate that controlling for individual‐level predictors, as well as other Level 2 variables, persons residing in nations with relatively high suicide rates are more approving of suicide than their counterparts. The model was replicated for the prediction of support for euthanasia. A social learning perspective was further supported by results linking 1970 suicide rates with suicide acceptability among older adults in 1990. Conclusion. National suicide rates are predictive of individual‐level suicide acceptability. However, the main predictors of suicide acceptability included a measure from social learning theory, religiosity, and a neglected measure of control theory, life satisfaction.     

Occupation and Suicide

Objective . Research on occupation and suicide has neglected multivariate models. It is not clear, for example, if persons in alleged high-risk occupations have high suicide risk because of occupational stress associated with the occupation or because of the demographic composition of the people in the occupation. The present study explores the relationship between occupation and suicide for 32 occupational groups. Methods . Data are from the national mortality file tapes, which cover 21 states. They refer to 9,499 suicides and 134,386 deaths from all other causes in 1990. Results . Bivariate logistic regression models find a total of 15 occupations with either significantly higher (e.g., dentists, artists, machinists, auto mechanics, and carpenters) or lower (e.g., clerks, elementary school teachers, cooks) risk than the rest of the working-age population. Multivariate models that remove the demographic covariates of occupation find only eight occupations with greater or lower than expected risk of death by suicide. Conclusion . The results underscore the need for demographic controls in the assessment of occupational risk of suicide. They are consistent with a previous study based on data from England. The findings provide the first systematic evidence on the problem for the United States.     

自杀倾向者的社会支持网络研究

社会支持网络是自杀倾向者维持生存的必需条件,它的构成和功能制约着他们在社会中存在的状态。通过对11位有过自杀倾向的人进行深入访谈发现,被访自杀倾向者在出现自杀的心理倾向后,均可以得到来自社会支持网络的多种支持：经济和物质的支持,保证了被访自杀倾向者的基本生活需求;社会交往的支持帮助被访自杀倾向者走出封闭的生活空间;心理辅导的支持帮助自杀倾向者放弃自杀的念头;自助能力的培养为自杀倾向者重建生活的信心提供了帮助。     

Unemployment, Age, Gender and Regional Suicide in England and Wales 1974-90: A Harbinger of Increased Suicide for the 1990s?

Correspondence to Prof. Colin Pritchard, Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO9 SNH. Summary The Department of Health's Health of the Nation aims at a substantialreduction in suicide; this is a ‘vote of confidence’in the effectiveness of the community psychiatric and healthservices. However, it will be shown that a number of socioeconomicchanges have occurred which may lead to increased suicide; forexample British male suicide rose in the 1980s, significantlyassociated with unemployment. Though female suicide fell substantiallyover the period, across the regions suicide rates for both menand women were worse amongst the ‘work age’ bands,16–44 years, than the older groups. In respect to therelatively poorer rates amongst younger women, this may be linkedto unemployment and their unfulfilled job expectations. If thesuicide targets are not met, it is feared that the ‘failure’will laid at the door of the community and health services.     

Depression and Suicide Among Community Elderly

Abstract

The phenomena of hopelessness, depression and, suicidality among the elderly have been long recognized as a social problem. It is commonly agreed that the rates of depression, sense of hopelessness and, suicidality in that age group are higher among older people. Due to its sensitive nature, the gerontological literature has been paid more theoretical and empirical attention to the understanding of such phenomena at the last two decades.

The present study concerned hopelessness, depression and, suicidality among an elderly community population. It aimed at providing a demographic profile of factors contributing to depression and suicidality among old people. At five senior citizen centers at the north of Israel, 316 old people living in the community were randomly selected. Subjects were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (HS), and the Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI). The data suggest that four main demographic variables contributed to the explanation of suicidality, depression, and hopelessness among the elderly. Practical implications are discussed.     

青少年自杀行为与社工介入

生命的终结可以有很多种原因,多种形式,但是其中有一种特殊的形式,一个人主动决定并采取措施结束自己的生命,这就是自杀。自杀直接危害了人的生命,社会工作者相信人的生命不应被剥夺,积极协助案主避免受伤害。本文主要对青少年自杀行为进行浅显分析,并提出社工的介入策略。