The Kurt Cobain Suicide Crisis: Perspectives from Research,Public Health,and the News Media

The suicide of rock star Kurt Cobain in 1994 raised immediate concerns among suicidologists and the public at large about the potential for his death to spark copycat suicides, especially among vulnerable youth. The Seattle community, where Cobain lived and died, was especially affected by his sudden death. An overview of Cobain's life and death is presented and various crisis center and community-based interventions that occurred are discussed. Preliminary data collected from the Seattle Medical Examiner's Office and from the Seattle Crisis Center to assess the potential impact of Cobain's death on completed suicides and the incidence of suicide crisis calls are presented. The data obtained from the Seattle King County area suggest that the expected “Werther effect” apparently did not occur, but there was a significant increase in suicide crisis calls following his death. It is hypothesized that the lack of an apparent copycat effect in Seattle may be due to various aspects of the media coverage, the method used in Cobain's suicide, and the crisis center and community outreach interventions that occurred. The Cobain suicide and the role of media influence on copycat suicides are further discussed in commentaries from public health and news media perspectives.     

Dyadic Death: A Typology

In dyadic deaths, a second victim acts in consort with, is associated with, or is killed by a person who, contemporaneous with the first death, then suicides. Dyadic deaths thus include both homicide–suicides and suicide pacts. This paper describes, suggests organizing dynamics of, and illustrates distinct types of dyadic deaths. The proposed typology varies by levels of dominance, dependence–enmeshment, and the presence or absence of hostility in and between partners.     

Neurobiologic correlates of violence: relevance to criminal responsibility

Studies addressing the relationship between neurotransmitter functioning and violent crime are reviewed. A rich literature exists to support the notion that monoamine (i.e., serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine) neurotransmitter functioning is related to human aggressive behaviour. Results from these studies provide, at best, indirect evidence that neurotransmitter abnormalities are involved in violent criminal behavior. Few studies have specifically addressed the role of neurotransmitter functioning in violent crime. To illustrate how current knowledge in this area has been applied in forensic settings, a case study in which neurotransmitter functioning was introduced as evidence to support an insanity defense is presented. Potential problems associated with such defenses are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of p-chloroamphetamine, a depletor of brain serotonin, on the performance of rats in two types of positively reinforced complex spatial discrimination tasks

Learning in male Sprague-Dawley rats was assessed in two types of positively reinforced complex spatial discrimination tasks (Stone 14-unit T-maze and eight-arm radial-arm maze) following cytotoxic lesions of central serotonergic terminal projection fields with p-chloroamphetamine (PCA). Learning, as expressed as mean number of errors per day and mean number of trails required to reach criterion, was significantly enhanced in the PCA-lesioned animals trained in the Stone maze. On the other hand, the performance of the PCA-lesioned animals trained in the eight-arm radial-arm maze was not found to differ significantly from that of saline-injected animals. The improved acquisition of the PCA-lesioned rats trained in the Stone maze was completely abolished following pretreatment with the selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitor norzimeldine. Neurochemical analyses of the brains of representative animals revealed that the levels of serotonin and its major metabolite, 5-hydroxy-3-indoleacetic acid, were both significantly reduced by PCA in all regions examined. While it is clear from these and other studies that the serotonergic nervous system plays an important role in the processes underlying learning and memory, these results further underscore the selective role of this neurotransmitter system in the way information is processed by the brain.     

How residents cope with living near a hazardous waste landfill: An example of substantive theorizing

It is hard to be a community or environmental psychologist and not be interested in newspaper stories on global warming, oil spills, or toxic wastes in your own backyard. To the general public, these issues tend to be viewed as environmental, technological, toxicological, or governmental, but not psychological. As psychologists, we see many ways in which psychology does play a role in understanding these events. We have been engaged in a study of residents living near a hazardous waste landfill in which many subdisciplines of psychology have played an illuminating role. Wicker's (this issue) article on substantive theorizing outlines an approach to theory and research that helps communicate the structure and process of doing research on a complex area. We use his article to help us describe key aspects of our research that are not usually discussed in research articles. We believe that the type of research Wicker describes occurs more often than people realize. Unfortunately, however, journal conventions cause investigators to omit discussions of substantive theorizing aspects of their work. We hope that reading this article increases your understanding of substantive theorizing and our research as much as writing it increased our own.     

Therapeutic wilderness programs: Issues of professionalization in an emerging field

With the rapid increase in therapeutic wilderness programming, issues of professionalization have arisen. This article discusses the movement toward increased professionalization, with particular attention to staff qualifications for the provision of service, the distinction between therapeutic and therapy, and the ethics and consequences of therapeutic wilderness programs. It is concluded that increased credibility necessitates elevated standards for staff credentials and the provision of therapy within programs.     

Differentiation of personality types among opiate addicts

A wide range of studies indicate that although sociopathic characteristics are predominant in opiate addiction, depressive and psychotic features are also frequently observed. To test the hypothesis that there are really three types of individuals who become addicted to opiates (rather than a single, predominant personality style), fifty-three opiate addicts were given the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test, the Bellak Ego Functions Interview, and the Rorschach. Variables derived from these three procedures were submitted to cluster and discriminant function analyses. Three groups of addicts were identified--those primarily with impaired interpersonal relationships and affective lability (42%), those primarily characterized by thought disorder and impaired ego functioning (30%), and a group with diminished ideational and verbal activity (28%). Comparison of the assessment of these three groups with independently defined normal, neurotic, and schizophrenic samples provided support for three opiate-addicted personality types, each respectively characterized as character disordered, borderline psychotic, and depressed. Although there seems to be a predominance of character-disordered individuals who become addicted to opiates, the data indicate several additional types of opiate addicts with different types of psychopathology who may require different approaches to management and treatment.     

Pilot test of a measure to assess clients’ perceptions of their home visitors

Home visiting services for caregivers of infants and young children have been found to be an effective method for promoting child development. Unfortunately, such services suffer from high rates of attrition, suggesting the need to identify factors related to client retention in services. Research has indicated that the client-provider relationship is an important predictor of client retention in home visiting services; however, measures to assess this relationship are limited. This study reports on a pilot test of the Client Perceptions of Home Visitors Questionnaire, developed to assess home visiting clients’ perceptions of their relationship with their home visitor. The measure was completed by 39 diverse home visiting clients during pregnancy in a midwestern town in the United States. The scale was found to have good internal consistency. Validity analyses found that the scale was positively associated with client satisfaction with services and perceived provider cultural sensitivity. The scale was also positively associated with retention in services at an 8-month follow-up. Additional research should examine the measure's psychometrics with larger samples.