Suicide
(from Latinsui caedere, to killoneself) is the act of willfully ending one's own
life. Suicide is sometimes used as a nounfor one who has committed or attempted the act.
Medical views of suicide
Modern medicine treats suicide as a mental healthissue. Overwhelming suicidal thoughts
are considered amedical emergency. Medical professionals advise that people who haveexpressed plans to kill themselves be encouraged to seek medical attention immediately.This is especially important if the means (weapons, drugs, or other methods) areavailable, or if the patient has crafted a detailed plan for executing the suicide. Specialconsideration is given to trained personnel to look for suicidal signs in patients.Depressive people are considered a high-risk group for suicidal behaviour. Suicidehotlines are widely available for people seeking help. However, the negative and oftentoo clinical reception that many suicidal people receive after relating their feelings tohealth professionals (threats of institutionalization, simply increasing dosages of medication, the stigmatization of suicide as a topic of discussion, etc), often causes themto keep their suicidal thoughts to themselves.
SCIENTIFIC MODELS OF SUICIDE
Medical model
This model, heavily influential throughout most of the twentieth century, has understoodsuicide in terms of disease: if suicide is not itself a disease, then it is the product of disease, usually mental illness. Suicide is understood as largely involuntary andnondeliberative, the outcome of factors over which the individual has little or no control;it is something that “happens” to the victim.
Cry-for-help Model
A second model, developed in the pioneering work of Ewin S. Shneidman and Norman LFarberow in the 1950’s, understands suicide as a communicative strategy: it is a cry for help, an attempt to seek aid in altering one’s social environment.
Sociogenic Model
Originally developed by French sociologist Emile Durkheim in his landmark work Suicide, the sociogenic model sees suicide as the product of social forces varying withthey type of social organization within which the individual lives.
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Altruistic suicide- product of a society that is highly integrated and the behavior is rigorously governed by social codes and customs.Ex. Kamikazes during WWII
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Egoistic- a society that is loosely integrated; self-referentialEx. Unmarried male who commit suicide
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Anomic – a society where individuals are neither over- nor under integrated but the society itself fails to provide adequate regulation of its members.Ex. Widows who commit suicide after the death of their husbands.
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