Understanding Suicide

Psyc 370
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Fall 2013

Instructor: Michael Kral, PhD

Time & Location: Tuesday & Thursday, 11:00 am – 12:20 pm, Psychology Building
room 819
Office: 709 Psychology Building. Mailbox is on 3rd floor
Email: mkral@illinois.edu
Phone: 244-0951
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00-3:30 or by appointment
Class Email: suicidology@cyrus.psych.illinois.edu

In this course we will explore the enigma of suicide, covering its many dimensions
including the historical, literary, neurobiological, psychological, sociological, cultural,
public health, and personal/subjective. Suicide has been studied from each of these
perspectives, and while there is agreement that it is a “multidimensional malaise,”
bringing these dimensions together has been extremely challenging. We will explore this
challenge through lectures and discussions.

Required Texts:
Myers, M.F., & Fine, C. (2006). Touched by suicide: Hope and healing after loss.
Gotham.
Plath, Sylvia. (1963). The bell jar. London: Faber and Faber.
Shneidman, E. (2001). Comprehending Suicide: Landmarks in 20th-century suicidology.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Styron, William. (1990). Darkness visible: A memoir of madness. New York: Random
House.

Recommended:
Jamison, K.R. (1999). Night falls fast: Understanding suicide. New York, NY: Knopf.
Joiner, T. (2005). Why people die by suicide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Shneidman, E.S. (1996). The suicidal mind. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Szasz, Thomas. (2002). Fatal freedom: The ethics and politics of suicide. Syracuse, NY:
Syracuse University Press.

Class attendance is required. Your commitment to this course includes coming to class,
and you are strongly encouraged to contribute to the discussions.
All articles are available on electronic reserve through the library
(http://www.library.uiuc.edu)
Place in the Curriculum:
This course is not a requirement for the psychology major but can contribute to the
major’s required “12 advanced hours.” Please note that there are no required prerequisites
for this course, even thought the course catalog might indicate there are.

Additional Information

Availability: You are encouraged to take advantage of my office hours, and please stop
by at other times if you wish. It is best to email me rather than trying to phone, and we
can communicate this way as well. I am open to hearing your questions, ideas, concerns,
etc., and will be glad to meet you outside of my office hours. I encourage each of you to
come see me at least once during the semester. Remember that this is your course.

Academic Honesty: Like other courses, this one adheres to UIUC guidelines on
academic integrity – see the University Student Code at
http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/policy/code
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in any form. If you are having problems in this
class, please speak with me so that we can develop a plan for you to improve your
performance in the course without cheating. Cheating and plagiarism will be penalized in
accord with the penalties and procedures indicated in the University Student Code. All
students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with how the Code defines an
infraction of academic integrity. For example, “every direct quotation must be identified
by quotation marks or by appropriate indentation and must be properly cited,” and
“Prompt acknowledgement is required when material from another source is paraphrased
or summarized in whole or in part.” This is true even if the student’s words differ
substantially from those of the source. You cannot pull text from the web without
quoting and citing the source.

In addition to the Code, the Department of Psychology also has the following guidelines
regarding academic integrity. If academic dishonesty of any sort is evident, be assured
that both the instructor and any teaching assistant will take appropriate action.
A student “suspected” by an instructor or a proctor of cheating in an examination is
considered to have cheated. Students have a responsibility to avoid any behavior that,
however innocent, may look suspicious to a reasonable observer.
Cheating and all other forms of academic dishonesty, such as plagiarizing a paper of parts
of a paper, are considered by the Department of Psychology as grounds for expulsion
from the University.

Disabilities: If you have a diagnosed condition or disability that causes difficulty with
learning in the classroom, completing assignments as described, or taking examinations,
please see me as soon as possible and provide documentation if it is available. I will do
whatever I can to accommodate your legitimate needs, which should be documented by
the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES,
http://www.disability.uiuc.edu). According to University policy, it is the student’s
responsibility to notify the instructor of any special needs. All information and
documentation of disability will be kept strictly confidential.

Students who will require assistance in the event of an emergency should

identify themselves to the instructor. Your instructor will make
arrangements to assist you in moving to a Safe Area during an emergency.
Safe Areas are located on each floor of the Psychology Building next to the
freight elevator in the southwest corner.

Evaluation & Grading:

At least 4 think pieces – 10% (just for submitting; they will not be graded). These will be
1-2 paragraphs on the readings or lectures: Your thoughts, reactions. You can tie them to
experiences in your own life, or they can be just intellectual about the content. You will
submit them to the class email list so that everyone can read them.
(suicidology@cyrus.psych.uiuc.edu), but if you prefer to send them to me (Kral)
confidentially you can do this instead (mkral@illinois.edu).
2 Weekly questions – 15% (just for submitting; they will not be graded). Email to me
(mkral@illinois.edu) by 10:00 pm Monday or Wednesday two questions you have
written based on the readings for that class. It can be on only one reading, and the
question can be very general or very specific. I will be reading several of these questions
to the class each week for discussion. Obviously, questions having nothing to do with the
readings will not count.
Mid-term take-home exam – 30% Assigned October 2, due October 6.
Final paper – 45% - due December 6, our last class. Double-spaced, 10-15 pages. Use
APA style for writing (see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/0).

Grades will be assigned according to the following scale:

Grade Percentage
A+ 96-100%
A 92-95%
A- 90-91%
B+ 88-89%
B 82-87%
B- 80-81%
C+ 78-79%
C 72-77%
C- 70-72%
D+ 68-69%
D 62-67%
D- 60-62%
F <60%
If any student has trouble completing the assignments, including the mid-term and final
exam/paper, the Emergency Dean can be of great help:

Another helpful resource on campus is the Counseling Center at 610 E. John Street:
217-333-3704. http://www.counselingcenter.illinois.edu

Students that will require assistance in the event of an emergency should

identify themselves to the instructor. Your instructor will make
arrangements to assist you in moving to a Safe Area during an emergency.
Safe Areas are located on each floor of the Psychology Building next to the
freight elevator in the southwest corner, and they are marked on the
emergency wayfaring maps found throughout the building.
 Semester Schedule

Week 1: Up From Experience

Aug 27, 29
Introduction to the topic and course.
Read Styron, Darkness Visible
In class: Examination and analysis of actual suicide notes.

Recommended:
Alvarez, A. (1990). Epilogue: Letting go, In A. Alvarez, The savage god: A study of
suicide (pp. 291-307). New York, NY: Norton.
Barnes, D.H., Lawal-Solarin, F.W., & Lester, D. (2007). Letters from a suicide. Death
Studies, 31, 671-678.
Kuwabara, H., Shiori, T., Nishimura, A., Abe, R., Nushida, H., Ueno, Y., Akazawa, K.,
& Someya, T. (2006). Differences in chatacteristics between suicide victims who
left notes or not. Journal of Affective Disorders, 94, 145-149.
Orbach, I., et al. (2007). A chronological perspective on suicide: The last days of life.
Death Studies, 31, 909-932.
Solomon, A. (1998). The anatomy of melancholy. New Yorker, January 12.

Week 2: Suicide Through History

Sept 3, 5
Tuesday Guest speaker: Benita Gay, Crisis Line Coordinator/Clinician, Community
Elements of Champaign County
Thursday: History
Comprehending Suicide: chapter 1 (Minois)
Alvarez, A. (1990). The background. In A. Alvarez, The savage god. New York: Norton.
(Original work published 1971)
MacDonald, M. (1989). The medicalization of suicide in England: Laymen, physicians,
and cultural change, 1500-1870. The Milbank Quarterly, 67 (Suppl. 1), 69-91.

Recommended:
Merwick, D. (1997). The suicide of a notary: Language, personal identity, and conquest
in colonial New York. In R. Hoffman, M. Sobel, & F.J. Teute (Eds.), Through a
glass darkly: Reflections on personal identity in early America (pp. 122-153).
Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Week 3: Suicide in Literature and Art

September 10, 12
Film: Suicide (HBO)
Read Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
Plath, S. (1965). “Daddy”; “Lady Lazarus”; “Edge”. In S. Plath, Ariel. London: Faber and
Faber.

Recommended:
Alvarez, A. (1990). Prologue: Sylvia Plath. In A. Alvarez, The savage god. New York:
 Norton. (Original work published 1971)
Bailey, D.S. (2003). Considering creativity: The “Sylvia Plath” effect. Monitor On
Psychology, 34 (10), 42-45.
Plath, S. In Kukil, K.V. (Ed.). (2000). The unabridged journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950-
1962. New York: Anchor/Random House.
Lauronen, E., Veijola, J., Isohanni, I., Jones, P.B., Nieminen, P., & Isohanni, M. (2004).
Links between creativity and mental disorder. Psychiatry, 67, 81-98.
Shapiro, P.J., & Weisberg, R. W. (1999). Creativity and bipolar diathesis: Common
behavioral and cognitive components. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 741-762.

Week 4: Children, Adolescents, Death, and Suicide

September 17, 19
Film: The Truth About Suicide: Real Stories of Depression in College
Berman, A.L., Jobes, D.A., & Silverman, M.M. (2006). The epidemiology of adolescent
suicide. In A.L. Berman, D.A. Jobes, & M.M. Silverman, Adolescent suicide:
Assessment and intervention (pp. 13-42). Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Speece, M.W., & Brent, S.B. (1996). The development of children’s understanding of
death. In C.A. Corr & D.M. Corr (Eds.), Handbook of childhood death and
bereavement. New York, NY: Springer.
Spirito, A. (2006). Attempted and completed suicide in adolescence. Annual Review of
Clinical Psychology, 2, 237-266.

Recommended:
Berman, A.L., Jobes, D.A., & Silverman, M.M. (2006). The theoretical context. In A.L.
Berman, D.A. Jobes, & M.M. Silverman, Adolescent suicide: Assessment and
intervention (pp. 43-75). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Gould, M.S., Shaffer, D., & Greenberg, T. (2003). The epidemiology of youth suicide. In
R.A. King & A. Apter (Eds.), Suicide in children and adolescents (pp. 1-40).
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Rosengren, K., Miller, P.J., Guteirrez, I.T., & Anderson, K.N. (in preparation).
Introduction to the issues. In K. Rosengren, P.J. Miller, I.T. Guteirrez, & K.N.
Anderson, Children’s understanding of death: A cross-cultural perspective.

Week 5
September 24
Neurobiology of Suicide
Comprehending Suicide: chapter 6 (Stoff & Mann)
Jamison, K.R. (1999). A plunge into deep waters: Genetic and evolutionary perspectives.
In K.R. Jamison, Night falls fast: Understanding suicide (pp. 163-212). New
York, NY: Knopf.
Jamison, K.R. (1999). Death-blood: Neurobiology and neuropathology. In K.R. Jamison,
Night falls fast: Understanding suicide (pp. 182-212). New York, NY: Knopf.

Recommended:
Joiner, T. E., Brown, J.S., & Wingate, L.R. (2005). The psychology and
 neurobiology of suicidal behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 287-314.
Mann, J.J. (2003). Neurobiology of suicidal behavior. Nature Reviews/Neuroscience, 4,
819-828.
Weeks, C. (2008). Suicide’s genetic key discovered. Globe and Mail, Thursday, July 31.

Sept 26
The Psychology of Suicide
Comprehending Suicide Epilogue: This I Believe
Freud, S. (1957). Mourning and melancholia. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition
of
the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (pp. 243-258). London:
Hogarth. (Original work published 1915) [Suicide is only discussed in one
paragraph on p. 252]
Litman, R.E. (1967). Sigmund Freud and suicide. In E.S. Shneidman (Ed.), Essays in
self-destruction (pp. 324-344). New York, NY: Science House.
Menninger, K.A. (1938). Man against himself. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace and
Company. (chapters 1-2, “The Taboo” and “The Motives,” pp. 13-80)

Recommended:
Strachey, J. (1957). Editor’s note on Trauer und melancholie. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The
standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London:
Hogarth
Maltsberger, J.T. (2004). The descent into suicide. International Journal of
Psychoanalysis, 85, 653-668.

Week 6: Psychology of Suicide (continued)

Oct 1, 3 (Mid-Term handed out)
Comprehending Suicide chapter 7 (Menninger)
Baumeister, R.F. (1991). Suicide: Oblivion beckons. In R.F. Baumeister, Escaping the
self: Alcoholism, spirituality, masochism, and other flights from the burden of
selfhood (pp. 81-113). New York, NY: Basic.
Joiner, T. (2005). The desire for death. In T. Joiner, Why people die by suicide (pp. 94-
136). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Joiner, T. (2005). The capability to enact lethal self-injury is aquired. In T. Joiner, Why
people die by suicide (pp. 46-93). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
See Joiner, T.E. Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire
Kral, M.J. (2010). A Review of Why People Die By Suicide.
Transcultural Psychiatry, 47, 515-518.
Shneidman, E.S. (1996). Suicide as psychache. In J.T. Maltsberger & M.J. Goldblatt
(Eds.), Essential papers on suicide (pp. 633-638). New York, NY: New York.

Recommended:
Baumeister, R.F. (1990). Suicide as escape from self. Psychological Review, 97, 90-113.
Baumeister, R.F., & Leary, M.R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal
attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117,
497-529.
Holden, R.R., Mehta, K., Cunningham, E.J., & McLead, L.D. (2001). Development and
preliminary validation of a scale of psychache. Canadian Journal of Behavioural
Science, 33, 224-232.
Shneidman, E.S. (1994). The psychological autopsy. American Psychologist, 49, 75-76.
Shneidman, E.S. (1998). Further reflections on suicide and psychache. Suicide and Life-
Threatening Behavior, 28, 245-250.
Van Orden, K.A., Witte, T.K., Gordon, K.H., Bender, T.W., & Join3er, T.E. (2008).
Suicidal desire and the capability for suicide: Tests of the interpersonal-
psychological theory of suicidal behavior among adults. Journal of Consulting
and Clinical Psychology, 76, 72-83.

Week 7: Psychiatry and Suicide

October 8, 10 (Mid-Term due)
Bertolote, J.M., Fleischmann, A., De Leo, D, & Wasserman, D. (2003). Suicide and
mental disorders: Do we know enough? British Journal of Psychiatry, 183, 382-
383.
Jamison, K.R. (1999). The burden of despair: Psychopathology and suicide. In K.R.
Jamison, Night falls fast: Understanding suicide (pp. 98-129). New York, NY:
Knopf.
Jacobs, D.G. et al. (2006). [listed on e-reserve under Simon & Hales] APA practice
guidelines for the assessment and treatment of patients with suicidal behaviors:
Executive summary of recommendations. In R.I. Simon & R.E. Hales (Eds.),
Textbook of suicide assessment and management (pp. 577-597). Washington, DC:
American Psychiatric Publishing.

Recommended:
Oldham, J.M. (2006). Borderline personality disorder and suicidality. American Journal
of Psychiatry, 163, 20-26.
O’Carroll, P.W., Berman, A.L., Maris, R., Moscocki, E., Tanney, B., & Silverman, M.
(1996). Beyond the tower of babel: A nomenclature for suicidology. Suicide and
Life-Threatening Behavior, 26, 237-252.
Rudd, M.D., Berman, A.L., Joiner, T.E., Nock, M.K., Silverman, M.M., Mandrusiak, M.,
Van Orden, K., & Witte, T. (2006). Warning signs for suicide: Theory, research,
and clinical application. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 36, 255-262.
Simon, R.I. (2006). Imminent suicide: The illusion of short-term prediction. Suicide and
Life-Threatening Behavior, 36, 296-301.
Thompson, A.H. (2005). Can psychiatry prevent suicide? Not yet! Canadian Journal of
Psychiatry, 50, 509-511.
Wulsin, L.R. (2008). Does depression kill? Archives of Internal Medicine, 160, 1731-
1732.

Week 8: Helping Suicidal People

October 15
Hendin, H., Haas, A.P., Maltsberger, J.T., Koestner, B., & Szanto, K. (2006). Problems
in psychotherapy with suicidal patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 67-
72.
Shneidman, E.S. (1985). Implications for prevention and response. In E.S. Shneidman,
Definition of suicide (pp. 225-235). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson

Bereavement and the Survivors

October 17
Myers, M.F., & Fine, C. (2006). Touched by suicide: Hope and healing after loss.
Gotham. (skim if you don’t have time to read)

Recommended:
American Association of Suicidology. (2004). Helping survivors of suicide: What can
you do? Washington, DC: American Association of Suicidology
Farberow, N. (2001). Helping suicide survivors. In D. Lester (Ed.), Suicide Prevention:
Resources for the millennium (pp. 189-212). New York: Brunner-Routledge.
McMenamy, J.M., Jordan, J.R., & Mitchell, A.M. (2008). What do suicide survivors tell
us they need? Results of a pilot study. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 38,
375-389.

Week 9: Varia
October 22, 24
Tuesday: Guest Speakers: Tom Miebach, Crisis Services, Community Elements of
Champaign County
Thursday: HBO film: Jonestown

Week 9: Sociology of Suicide

October 29, 31
Thursday Film: The Bridge
Stack, S, (2000). Suicide: A 15-year review of the sociological literature part 1: Cultural
and economic factors. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 30, 145-162.
Stack, S. (2000). Suicide: A 15-year review of the sociological literature part 2:
Modernization and social integration perspectives, Suicide and Life-Threatening
Behavior, 30, 163-176.
Wray, M., Colen, C., & Pescosolido, B. (2011). The sociology of suicide. Annual Review
of Sociology, 37, 505-528.

Recommended:
Breault, K.D. (1994). Was Durkheim right? A critical survey of the empirical literature
on Le Suicide. In D. Lester (Ed.), Emile Durkheim Le Suicide: 100 years later
(pp. 11-29). Philadelphia, PA: The Charles Press.
Durkheim, E. (1951). Introduction. In E. Durkheim, Suicide: A study in sociology
(pp. 41-53). New York: Free Press. (Original work published 1897)
Kushner, H. I. (2009). Suicide, gender, and the fear of modernity. In J. Weaver & D.
Wright (Eds.), Histories of suicide: International perspectives on self-descruction
in the modern world. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. (original work
published 1993)
Phillips, David P. (1974). The influence of suggestion on suicide: Substantive and
theoretical implications of the Werther effect. American Sociological Review, 39,
340-354.
Poppel, F., & Day, L.H. (1996). A test of Durkheim’s theory of suicide: Without
committing the “ecological fallacy.” American Sociological Review, 61, 500-507.
Robins, A., & Fiske, A. (2009). Explaining the relation between religiousness and
reduced suicidal behavior: Social support rather than specific beliefs. Suicide and
Life-Threatening Behavior, 39, 386-395.
Stark, R., Doyle, D.P., & Rushing, J.L. (1983). Beyond Durkheim: Religion and suicide.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22, 120-131.

Week 10: Suicide Through Culture

November 5, 7
Film: Understanding and Preventing Suicide (Glendon Association)
Canetto, S.S., & Lester, D. (1998). Gender, culture, and suicidal behavior. Transcultural
Psychiatry, 35, 163-190.
Chu, J.P., Goldblum, P., Floyd, R., & Bongar, B. (2010). The cultural theory and model
of suicide. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 14, 25-40.
Colucci, E. (in press). Culture, cultural meaning(s) and suicide. In E. Colucci & D.
Lester (Eds.), Suicide and culture: Understanding the context. Cambridge, MA:
Hogrefe.
Gould, M.S. (2006). Suicide and the media. Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences, 932, 200-224.
Kral, M.J. (1998). Suicide and the internalization of culture: Three questions.
Transcultural Psychiatry, 35, 221-233.
Rosenberg, T. (2009). The daughter deficit. The New York Times, August 23. 1-4.

Recommended:
Alao, A.O., Soderberg, M., Pohl, E.L., & Lola, A. (2006). Cybersuicide: Review of the
role of the internet on suicide. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 9, 489-493.
Chandler, M.J., & Lalonde, C. (2009). Cultural continuity as a moderator of suicide risk
among Canada’s First Nations. In L.J. Kirmayer & G. Valaskakis (Eds.). Healing
traditions: The mental health of Aboriginal peoples in Canada (pp. 221-
248Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press.
Feigelman, W., & Gorman, B.S. (2008). Assessing the effects of peer suicide on youth
suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 38, 181-194.
Hjelmeland, H. (2010). Cultural research in suicidology: Challenges and opportunities.
Suicidology Online, 1, 34-52.
Ikunaga, A., Nath, S. R., & Skinner, K. A. (2013). Internet suicide in Japan: A qualitative
content analysis of a suicide bulletin board. Transcultural Psychiatry, 50, 280-
302.
Ji, J., Kleinman, A., & Becker, A.E. (2001). Suicide in contemporary China: A review of
China’s distinctive suicide demographics in their sociocultural context. Harvard
Review of Psychiatry, January/February.
Kral, M.J. (1994). Suicide as social logic. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 24,
245-255.
Kral, M.J., & Idlout, L. (2009). Community wellness in the Canadian Arctic: Collective
agency as subjective well-being. In L.J. Kirmayer & G. Valaskakis (Eds.).
Healing traditions: The mental health of Canadian Aboriginal Peoples (pp. 315-
336). Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press.
Kral, M.J. (2009). On suicide and culture. In Kral, M.J., Transforming communities:
Suicide, relatedness, and reclamation among Inuit of Nunavut, Canada (pp. 315-
374). Unpublished dissertation, McGill University.
Masecar, D. (2009). Suicide clusters: A discussion. First Nations and Inuit Health
Branch, Health Canada. Ottawa, ON: Health Canada.
Niederkrotenthaler, T., et al. (2009). Copycat effects after media reports on suicide: A
population-based ecologic study. Social Science and Medicine, 69, 1085-1090.
Niezen, R. (2013). Internet suicide: Communities of affirmation and the lethality of
communication. Transcultural Psychiatry, 50, 303-322.
Pape, R.A., O’Rourke, L., & McDermit, J. (2010). What makes Chechen women so
dangerous? New York Times, March 31.
Phillips, M.R., Li, X., & Zhang, Y. (2002). Suicide rates in China, 1995-99. Lancet, 359,
835-840.
Stack, S. & Kposowa, A. J. (2008). The association of suicide rates with individual-level
suicide attitudes: A cross-national analysis. Social Science Quarterly, 89, 39-49.

Week 12
November 12, 14
Tuesday: Prevention and Public Health
Comprehending Suicide: chapter 12 (Varah & Samaritans)
Knox, K.L., Conwell, Y., & Caine, E.D. (2004). If suicide is a public health problem,
what are we doing to prevent it? American Journal of Public Health, 94, 37-45.
Potter, L. (2000). Public health and suicide prevention. In D. Lester (Ed.), Suicide
prevention: Resources for the new millennium (pp. 67-82). Ann Arbor, MI:
Sheridan Books.

Recommended:
Author (2001).[listed in e-reserve under American Foundation for Suicide Prevention]
Reporting on suicide: Recommendations for the media. Washington, DC:
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American Association of
Suicidology, & Annenberg Public Policy Center.
Mishara, B.L., & Daigle, M. (2001). Helplines and crisis intervention services:
Challenges for the future. In D. Lester (Ed.), Suicide prevention: Resources for
the new millennium (pp. 153-171). New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Shaffer, D., & Gould, M. (2000). Suicide prevention in schools. In K. Hawton & K. van
Heeringen, The international handbook of suicide and attempted suicide (pp. 645-
660). New York: Wiley.

Thursday: Ethics and Suicide

Film: Suicide Tourist
Battin, M. P. (in press). The primary texts: Sources on the ethics of suicide. In M. P.
Battin (Ed.), The ethics of suicide: A comprehensive historical sourcebook. New
 York: Oxford University press.
Battin, M.P., van der Heide, A., Ganzini, L., van der Wal, G., & Onwuteaka-Philipsen
(2007). Legal physician-assisted dying in Oregon and the Netherlands: Evidence
concerning the impact on patients in “vulnerable” groups. Journal of Medical
Ethics, 33, 591-597.
Friedman, E. H. 1990. The bridge. Friedman’s fables, pp. 9-13. New York:
Guilford.
Henig, R.M. (2013). A life-or-death situation. New York Times, July 17. [a good article
about Peggy Battin, the author we are reading, and her disabled husband’s
decisions to die and live. See the video:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/magazine/a-life-or-death-situation.html?
pagewanted=all]

Recommended:
Humphrey, D. (1994). Suicide by asphyxiation after the publication of Final Exit. The
New England Journal of Medicine, 330, 1017.
Marzuk, P.M. et al. (1993). Increase in suicide by asphyxiation in New York City after
the publication of Final Exit. New England Journal of Medicine, 329 (20), 1508-
1510.
Marzuk, P.M., Tardiff, K., & Hirsch, C.S. (1994). Suicide by asphyxiation in New York
City after the publication of Final Exit. New England Journal of Medicine, 330,
1017-1018.
Szasz, Thomas. 2002. Fatal freedom: The ethics and politics of suicide. Syracuse, NY:
Syracuse University Press.

Week 13
November 19:
Finish Ethics of Suicide
Murder-Suicide
Barraclough, B., & Harris, C. (2002). Suicide preceded by murder: The epidemiology of
homicide-suicide in England and Wales 1988-92. Psychological Medicine, 32,
577-584.
Hillbrand, M. (2001). Homicide-suicide and other forms of co-occuring aggression
against self and against others. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice,
32, 626-635.

November 21: Film: Cry of Help

“If you really, really, knew me….” High school suicide prevention

Thanksgiving Break Nov. 25-29

Week 14
Dec 3: Clinical Suicidology
Kral, M.J., & Sakinofsky, I. (1994). Clinical model for suicide risk assessment. Death
Studies, 18, 311-326.
Jobes, D.A. (2006) CAMS treatment plan: Coauthoring the outpatient treatment plan. In
 D.A. Jobes, Managing suicidal risk: A collaborative approach. New York, NY:
Guilford.

Week 15
Dec 5
Donut Review: What have we learned? What do we know? What questions do we have
left? Course evaluations – come to class!!

Week 16
December 10 (Final paper due)
Student roundtable on paper topics