Teachers' knowledge of facts and myths about suicide

Suicidal behavior is a serious public health concern that has prompted the development of prevention strategies, which include increasing community members' knowledge about suicide. Given that teachers are in a key position to recognize and respond to suicidal behavior, this study examined teachers' knowledge about suicide to identify how they need to be educated relative to its prevention. 82 Canadian school teachers from middle and high schools were administered a revised version of the 32-item Facts on Suicide Quiz to examine their knowledge of suicide. Analysis indicated that general information about suicide was limited, while knowledge of clinically relevant information about suicide, e.g., "Suicide rarely happens without warning," was relatively high.     

Undergraduate education majors' knowledge about suicide

Undergraduate education majors' knowledge about suicide was evaluated to identify what training they may need about suicide prevention and to explore the hypothesis that individuals previously exposed to suicide in their social context may hold higher suicide-related knowledge than those without. 71 college students completed the 50-item Expanded Revised Facts on Suicide Quiz to examine their knowledge about suicide. While overall knowledge was low for general information and for specific items concerning suicide among youth and elderly persons, knowledge was high on several items important for suicide prevention work. Higher suicide-related knowledge was found for knowing a suicide attempter, providing partial support for the hypothesis that personal experience with suicidal people may correspond with greater knowledge about suicide.     

Suicide attacks in Israel and suicide rates

In Israel from 1983 to 1999, the frequency and lethality of suicide attacks was negatively associated with the suicide rate.     

Suicide ideation: its relation to depression, suicide and suicide attempt

A random sample of 3,935 adults from a general population were interviewed and asked to report how often they had thoughts of suicide as well as their opinion on the frequency of suicide ideation in others. Depression was found to be related to the respondent's reports of his/her own suicidal thoughts and to reports of frequent suicide ideation in others. A total of 5.4 percent of the respondents reported some degree of suicide ideation in the previous month and 9.1 percent reported that others think about suicide once a month or more. When the demographic characteristics of those who report suicide ideation in themselves or others were compared to those of suicide attempters and committers, some consistencies were found, suggesting that such questions may be useful in identifying those "at risk." Nevertheless, sufficient discrepancies were found which suggest that there may be a number of factors which increase or decrease the likelihood that someone with thoughts of suicide will attempt or commit suicide. Follow-up studies are necessary to uncover such factors and the degrees to which they influence the occurrence of suicide.     

Suicide intervention and non-ideal Kantian theory

Philosophical discussions of the morality of suicide have tended to focus on its justifiability from an agent's point of view rather than on the justifiability of attempts by others to intervene so as to prevent it. This paper addresses questions of suicide intervention within a broadly Kantian perspective. In such a perspective, a chief task is to determine the motives underlying most suicidal behaviour. Kant wrongly characterizes this motive as one of self–love or the pursuit of happiness. Psychiatric and scientific evidence suggests that suicide is instead motivated by a nihilistic disenchantment with the possibility of happiness which, at its apex, results in the loss of the individual's conception of her practical identity. Because of this, methods of intervention that appeal to agents' happiness, while morally benign, will prove ineffective in forestalling suicide. At the same time, more aggressive methods violate the Kantian concern for autonomy. This apparent dilemma can be resolved by seeing suicide intervention as an action undertaken in non–ideal circumstances, where otherwise unjustified manipulation, coercion, or paternalism are morally permitted.     

Suicide, suicide litigation, and borderline personality disorder

In the category of malpractice liability affecting mental health practitioners of all disciplines, malpractice based on suicide is the leading claim by a significant margin. Our discussion here will be organized in two sections. First, we consider the theory, practice, and psychology of malpractice litigation itself in relation to suicide. Second, we describe how those basic principles apply to patients with borderline personality disorder.     

Aboriginal language knowledge and youth suicide

This brief report details a preliminary investigation into how community-level variability in knowledge of Aboriginal languages relate to “band”-level measures of youth suicide. In Canada, and, more specifically, in the province of British Columbia (BC), Aboriginal youth suicide rates vary substantially from one community to another. The results reported demonstrate that not only did this simple language-use indicator prove to have predictive power over and above that of six other cultural continuity factors identified in previous research, but also that youth suicide rates effectively dropped to zero in those few communities in which at least half the band members reported a conversational knowledge of their own “Native” language.     

Suicide: bad act or good intervention

This article develops a different perspective on the ethics of suicide, based on theoretical and clinical grounds. In terms of value theory, applying "good" or "bad" to the suicide act makes no sense. We need to shift our focus from a search for an ethical statement about suicide (e.g., "rational suicide") to the ethical justification for intervention based on the needs and interests of an affirming therapeutic profession. We choose to intervene because of values we hold about well-functioning, existence, potential for human life; and because as emphatic, social beings, we feel for others and are motivated by that feeling. This justification leads us to suggest a situational case-centered ethics for suicide intervention.     

Suicide planning among high school students who report attempting suicide

Using a nationally representative sample of 16,296 high school students, we examined those who reported attempting suicide but did not report a suicide plan in the past 12 months. Results from logistic regression analyses showed that the 15% of attempters who did not report planning were as likely to receive medical treatment after their attempt as the attempters who did report planning. They also were more likely than nonideators and less likely than attempters who reported planning to report substance use and weapon carrying. All attempters, regardless of planning, were at high risk for fighting. Additional effort is needed to understand and prevent unplanned suicide attempts.     

从高校学生的自杀现象看培养科学素质的紧迫性

数据显示:2003年全国学生自杀和疑似自杀案是27起;2004年为68起;2005年,116起;2006年130起。"在2007年5月份的8日至17日的短短9天内,北京就有5名高校学生跳楼身亡,还有天津、武汉等地也发生了类似悲剧。"(5     

Suicide attempts and family history of suicide in three psychiatric populations

The influence of a family history of suicide on suicide attempt rate and characteristics in depression, schizophrenia, and opioid dependence was examined. One hundred sixty inpatients with unipolar depression, 160 inpatients with schizophrenia, and 160 opioid-dependent patients were interviewed. Overall, a family history of suicide was associated with a higher risk for suicide attempt, with high-lethality method, with repeated attempts, and with number of attempts, while the interaction between family history and diagnostic group was not significant. Thus, a positive family history of suicide was a risk factor for several suicide attempt characteristics independent of psychiatric diagnosis.     

Myths and Facts about Suicide from Individuals Involved in Suicide Prevention

Myth‐busting, in which a so‐called myth is presented and dispelled by facts, is used in suicide prevention gatekeeper trainings such as QPR. Evidence from other areas of public health shows this technique leads to memory for myths and not facts. An internet survey was used to determine if the “myths” and “facts” presented in QPR are endorsed as such by the suicidology community and to determine if demographics influenced statement identification. Overall, statements did reflect the opinions of the suicidology community and any type of training increased correct identification. Future research should focus on whether myth‐busting is an appropriate strategy for suicidology.     

Trainee teachers' opinions about suicide

In response to the rising rate of youth suicide, interested parties—both overseas and in Australia—have examined various methods of suicide prevention. One popular approach has been to base prevention within secondary-school communities by equipping staff, especially teachers, to identify and appropriately intervene with at-risk youth. The attitudes toward suicide of trainee teachers from a large metropolitan university were examined. It was found that they held complex opinions about suicide. While endorsing the metaphor representing suicide as a cry for help, they also perceived the communicative intent of suicide as being primarily manipulative in nature. These results are discussed with reference to training and support of teachers by counsellors in secondary-school settings.     

Suicide after suicide attempt in severe depression: a long-term follow-up

The temporal relation between completed suicide and first-ever suicide attempt was investigated in 58 future suicides with a primary severe depression/melancholia. The median survival after a first attempted suicide was 6.7 years. Male patients with initial ratings of psychomotor retardation lived significantly longer after their initial attempt than those who were not retarded. They also had more depressive episodes compared to other male suicides and retarded controls. Thus a slow suicidal process in the men with a severe depression and psychomotor retardation is proposed. Severity, repetition, and method of suicide attempt did not decrease the survival time.     

Suicide in peacekeepers: risk factors for suicide versus accidental death

To investigate risk factors for suicide in veterans of peacekeeping, 43 suicides and 41 fatal accidents in Norwegian peacekeepers (1978 to 1995) were compared in a psychological autopsy study. Mental health problems were the most important risk factor for suicide. Both living alone and the break-up of a love relationship contributed uniquely to suicide risk, even when controlling for mental health problems. No peacekeeping-related factor was associated with suicide. Preventive measures should focus on firearms control, improved detection systems for mental health problems in the military, and peer support through veterans' associations.     

Group intervention for widowed survivors of suicide.

This study evaluates the effects of two group interventions, the Bereavement Group Postvention (BGP) and the Social Group Postvention (SGP), on the bereavement outcomes in widowed survivors of suicide. The goals were to determine if the group interventions would significantly decrease levels of depression, psychological distress, and grief, as well as significantly increase the level of social adjustment among widowed survivors of suicide. Sixty widowed survivors of suicide were randomized to either the BGP or SGP intervention for 1-1/2 hour weekly sessions over an 8-week period. Study participants were recruited through various media and community referrals and initiated telephone contact with the study investigators. Statistically significant changes were found on all measures when the SGP and the BGP were combined for analyses on posttreatment assessments at 3 to 5 days after completion of the group intervention, and 6 months and 12 months after the intervention. Participants experienced a significant reduction in overall depression, psychological distress, and grief, as well as an increase in social adjustment. Further research with tighter controls of confounding variables as well as the inclusion of a no-treatment control group is indicated.     

Factorial structure of the suicide intervention response inventory

Previous research has reported the development and validation of the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI), a self-report instrument assessing a counselor's ability to select an appropriate response to the life-threatening client. The present study examined whether the response skill measured by the instrument might be multidimensional, rather than unitary as previously assumed. Inventories completed by 457 paraprofessional counselors from five suicide and crisis intervention services throughout the United States were factor-analyzed to yield their simple structure. Results suggested that the instrument is indeed multifactorial, with four component factors identified as Elaboration of the Complaint, Exploration of Suicidality, Involvement, and Reflection of Negative Feelings. The implications of these findings for training in crisis counseling and for the further psychometric development of the instrument are noted.