Essential Papers on Suicide

by Mark Goldblatt

Book Overview

An exploration of the motivations, characteristics, and psychology of suicide

Why do people take their own lives? How can clinicians best plan and carry out intelligent treatment of desperate patients who are giving up on themselves?

Suicide, its motivations, characteristics, and psychology are explicated in these papers by the most experienced and renowned experts on the subject. A definitive volume, Essential Papers on Suicide...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081475550X
• ISBN13: 9780814755501
• Release Date: August 1996
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Interesting Historical Perspective

Essential Papers share anecdotal stories of unique characters and their circumstances, but then some of the writers try to globalize their "findings" to the general population as reasons for self destructive behavior. Since the papers were written in the early 20th century, heavy weight is given to Sigmund Freud's and Karl Menninger's theories. The papers do provide an insight into the "pop-psychology" of the past, and give the reader a better understanding on how far the field of psychiatry has come over the past 100 years. The book's finale is a crown jewel written by Edwin Shneidman, "Suicide as Psychache" wherein the three components of prevention arise: reduce the pain, provide a truncated time for endurance, and offer coping resources.