SUICIDE: WARNING SIGNS AND BLAME

✍ Scribed by Saxby Pridmore

• Book ID: 104469545
• Publisher: Informa plc
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 43 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1039-8562
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1665.1999.00198.x

✦ Synopsis

Last year I claimed that newspaper reports of suicide indicate that in at least some instances, suicide is not predicted by those close to the subject [ 1 , 2 ]. This could be because the survivors are either not trained or not alert. But I believe that in certain cases, even those both fully trained and alert are unable to pick-up signs—because there aren't any. This leads to the proposal that some suicide is not preventable and that in these cases, the attribution of blame is wrong. I labour this point because we live in a ‘culture of complaint’ and I sense a strong drive to find someone responsible whenever a suicide occurs. I doubt that I lack compassion or that I am paranoid—but I do not deny the possibility.