A Comprehensive Guide to Suicidal Behaviours: Working with Individuals at Risk and their Families

by David Aldridge, Sergio Perez Barrero

Over a million people commit suicide every year, making it the tenth leading cause of death worldwide. For this reason and many others besides, an understanding of the act is vital, especially for professionals working with depression and mental health problems. This books sensitively and intelligently covers issues associated with suicide, seeking to facilitate understanding and enable effective communication with those who may be considering it. Beginning with a chapter on genetics and suicide, the book explores how the decision to take your own life can come about. It goes on to discuss classifying suicide, suicidal ideas, and myths surrounding the act, clarifying what is true, and what is often nothing more than ill-informed rumour. Bullying and protective factors are also discussed, and groups at risk of suicide are identified. The book concludes with a practical guide for the evaluation of suicidal risk, appealing to both parents and professionals, and the final chapter deals with the bereavement that so often follows. This book will be essential reading for anybody who has come into contact with suicide, and will be particularly useful for those working with depressed patients in need of guidance.

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2012

Reviews

[Roma · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Currently Reading] - Had to mark this as "read" due to the word limit

I like this because it's not too technical. It is easy to read and easy to understand. Few things that stuck into me while reading the first two chapters,

• Suicidal behavior is complex. It's not a feeling to be so easily brushed off like what my mom always says. (No hard feelings to my mom).

•Suicide bombers think that they are martyrs. It is an idea I never fully grasped when I was writing a paper about religious terrorism when I was 16./7. It was rampant back then and, it is only now that I fully understood why they do the atrocious act. They have a lot to gain more than they value their life. Suicide bombers are seen within their own cultures as promoting prestige within their culture by committing a planned act that enhances the status of their family or clan.

•I find the custom of suttee, wherein the widows of certain Brahman and royal families in India had to die in their husband's funeral piles, absurd and unjust. I first came across this tradition while reading a manhwa and, I am glad that this was declared illegal in 1982.

•Immersing yourself in a warm bath during exsanguination makes the process of dying faster. When I was younger, I thought that people choose to die in a bathtub because it was more dramatic. I only ever see that on TV and, it was a fleeting thought. (It is insensitive. I know. But I was young then and still lack the knowledge that I have now). But, this makes pretty sense to me now as a med student because vasodilation does occur during warm temperatures.

I am engrossed in this book. I am so excited to read the succeeding chapters.