NCJ Number
45398
Editor(s)
S PERLIN
Date Published
1975
Length
248 pages
Annotation
CONTRIBUTIONS OF VARIOUS DISCIPLINES RELEVANT TO THE STUDY OF SUICIDE ARE PRESENTED IN A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES AND PAPERS BY EXPERTS IN EACH FIELD.
Abstract
THE DISCIPLINES SURVEYED INCLUDE HISTORY, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, BIOLOGY, EPIDEMIOLOGY, AND PSYCHIATRY. CRITICAL NOTIONS ARE EXAMINED, AND CASE EXAMPLES ARE PROVIDED WHICH DEMONSTRATE THE LIMITATIONS AS WELL AS THE POTENTIAL OF ANY SINGLE AVENUE OF STUDY. FROM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, SUICIDE AMONG DIFFERENT PEOPLE AT DIFFERENT POINTS IN HISTORY, NEW VIEWS ON SUICIDE, AND SUICIDE AS A SOCIAL PROBLEM RATHER THAN A SIN ARE EXAMINED. THE SUICIDE VOGUE IN EUROPE DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, SPURRED LARGELY BY JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE'S 'THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER' AND THE SUICIDE OF THE YOUNG ENGLISH POET CHATTERTON AT THE END OF THE PREVIOUS CENTURY, AND SUICIDE IN MODERN LITERATURE ARE COVERED IN ANOTHER ESSAY. THE MORALITY AND RATIONALITY OF SUICIDE ARE TREATED FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF COMTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY, AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL FINDINGS ON SUICIDE POINT UP THE BASIC CULTURAL VALUES INVOLVED. THE SOCIOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTION DRAWS PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE THEORIES OF EMILE DURKHEIM, WHO FIRST ASSERTED THAT SOCIETY IS QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT FROM INDIVIDUALS AND THAT THE SUICIDE RATE WAS THUS A SOCIAL PRODUCT. ATTEMPTS TO ELUCIDATE BRAIN MECHANISMS UNDERLYING SUICIDAL AND OTHER ABBERRATIONS THROUGH THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY ARE DISCUSSED. SUICIDAL INDIVIDUALS AND COMPLETED SUICIDES ARE STUDIED BY PSYCHIATRISTS AND THE TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS THROUGH COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRY ARE AMONG THE TOPICS TREATED IN OTHER PAPERS. EPIDEMIOLOGY, CONCERNED WITH THE INVESTIGATION OF THE FREQUENCY AND DISTRIBUTION OF A DISEASE OR CONDITION AND OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ITS DISTRIBUTION, IS ALSO APPLIED TO THE STUDY OF SUICIDE. A FINAL SELECTION EXAMINES SUICIDE CASE REGISTERS IN RELATION TO STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. EACH ARTICLE FURNISHES NOTES AND REFERENCES, AND AN INDEX IS PROVIDED. (DAS)