by Routledge

    Suicide is increasingly recognized as a major global issue of public health, with far-reaching social, economic, and emotional consequences. The World Health Organization estimates that around 800,000 people die each year by suicide, with suicide attempts perhaps up to twenty times more frequent than the completed act. Moreover, in the past thirty years global suicide rates have increased by a dizzying 60 per cent. (For example, in Japan—after Russia, the developed world’s leading suicide nation—more than 33,000 people committed suicide in 2007.)

    Some general facts are now widely known. For instance: suicide is mainly a (young) male act; mental disorders (such as depression and schizophrenia) are strongly associated with the majority of suicide cases; and suicide rates tend to increase during times of economic downturn, and decrease when individuals within society are well integrated—which probably explains why suicide rates tend to decline during wars. Also, certain groups of people (e.g. alcoholics, the bereaved, prisoners, and migrants) are recognized to be at particular risk of suicide.

    While it is possible to make such generalizations, many urgent questions, of course, remain unanswered. Consequently, practical and scholarly research better to understand the complex interaction of psychological, genetic, sociological, and environmental factors that may lead to suicide flourishes as never before, not least in the hope of instigating effective suicide-prevention strategies and initiatives. However, much of the literature remains inaccessible or is highly specialized and compartmentalized, so that it is often difficult to obtain an informed overview. To enable users to make sense of the sheer scale of the growth in research output—and the breadth of the field—this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s Major Themes in Health and Social Welfare series answers the need for a comprehensive reference work offering wide-ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives on suicide and suicidal behaviour.

    Edited by two of the world’s leading authorities, the collection brings together canonical and the very best cutting-edge research. Suicide will be welcomed by professionals and policy-makers. It will also be an invaluable reference resource for students and scholars working in the field, as well as users from a wide range of allied disciplines—such as nursing, education, social work, and law—who increasingly require an understanding of the issues this collection explores.

    Volume I

    Part 1: Definitions of Suicidal Behaviour and Overview

    1. P. O’Carroll, et al., ‘Beyond the Tower of Babel: A Nomenclature for Suicidology’, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 1996, 26, 3, 237–52.

    2. M. M. Silverman, A. L. Berman, N. D. Sandall, P. W. O’Carroll, and T. E. Joiner, ‘Rebuilding the Tower of Babel: A Revised Nomenclature for the Study of Suicide and Suicidal Behaviors—Part II: Suicide-Related Ideations, Communications, and Behaviors’, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2007, 37, 3, 264–77.

    3. K. Posner, M. A. Oquendo, M. Gould, B. Stanley, and M. Davies, ‘Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment (C-CASA): Classification of Suicidal Events in the FDA Pediatric Suicide Risk Analysis of Antidepressants’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2007, 164, 4, 1035–43.

    4. K. Skegg, ‘Self-harm’, Lancet, 2005, 366, 1471–83.

    5. K. Hawton and K. van Heeringen, ‘Suicide’, Lancet, 2009, 373, 1372–81.

    Part 2: Epidemiology

    6. G. E. Murphy and R. D. Wetzel, ‘Suicide Risk by Birth Cohort in the United States, 1949 to 1974’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1980, 37, 519–23.

    7. D. Swinscow, ‘Some Suicide Statistics’, British Medical Journal, 1951, 1, 1417–23.

    8. P. Qin and M. Nordentoft, ‘Suicide Risk in Relation to Psychiatric Hospitalization: Evidence Based on Longitudinal Registers’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005, 62, 427–32.

    9. A. D. Pokorny, ‘Prediction of Suicide in Psychiatric Patients’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1983, 40, 249–57.

    10. D. Gunnell, M. Eddleston, M. R. Phillips, and F. Konradsen, ‘The Global Distribution of Fatal Pesticide Self-poisoning: Systematic Review’, BMC Public Health, 2007, 7, 357.

    11. A. Schmidtke et al., ‘Attempted Suicide in Europe: Rates, Trends and Sociodemographic Characteristics of Suicide Attempters During the Period 1989–1992. Results of the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide’, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1996, 93, 327–38.

    12. R. C. Kessler, G. Borges, and E. E. Walters, ‘Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Lifetime Suicide Attempts in the National Comorbidity Survey’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999, 56, 617–26.

    13. M. K. Nock et al., ‘Cross-national Prevalence and Risk Factors for Suicidal Ideation, Plans and Attempts’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 2008, 192, 98–105.

    14. N. Madge, ‘Deliberate Self-harm Within an International Community Sample of Young People: Comparative Findings from the Child and Adolescent Self-harm in Europe (CASE) Study’, Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 2008, 49, 667–77.

    15. D. Owens, J. Horrocks, and A. House, ‘Fatal and Non-fatal Repetition of Self-harm: Systematic Review’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 2002, 181, 193–9.

    16. J. Cooper, et al, ‘Suicide after Deliberate Self-harm: A 4-year Cohort Study’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2005, 162, 297–303.

    Part 3: Theoretical Approaches to Suicidal Behaviour

    17. J. D. Douglas, ‘Durkheim’s Suicide’, The Social Meanings of Suicide (Princeton University Press, 1967), pp. 13–76.

    18. J. J. Mann, C. Waternaux, G. Haas, and K. Malone, ‘Toward a Clinical Model of Suicidal Behavior in Psychiatric Patients’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 1999, 156, 181–9.

    19. R. F. Baumeister, ‘Suicide as an Escape from Self’, Psychological Review, 1990, 97, 90–113.

    20. R. C. O’Connor, ‘Suicidal Behavior as a Cry of Pain: Test of a Psychological Model’, Archives of Suicide Research, 2003, 7, 4, 297–308.

    21. K. A. Van Orden et al, ‘The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide’, Psychological Review, 2010, 117, 575–600.

    22. E. S. Shneidman, ‘Suicide as Psychache’, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1993, 181, 3, 147–9.

    23. T. E. Joiner, Jr. and M. D. Rudd, ‘Intensity and Duration of Suicidal Crises Vary as a Function of Previous Suicide Attempts and Negative Life Events’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2000, 68, 5, 909–16.

    24. A. T. Beck, D. Schuyler, and I. Herman, ‘Development of Suicidal Intent Scales’, in A. T. Beck, H. L. P. Resnik, and D. J. Lettieri (eds.), The Prediction of Suicide (Charles Press, 1974), pp. 45–56.

    25. I. Orbach et al., ‘A Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale for Adolescents’, Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1991, 3, 3, 398–404.

    Volume II

    Part 4: Determinants of Suicidal Behaviour: (1) Psychiatric, Psychological, and Clinical Factors

    26. E. Robins, G. E. Murphy, R. H. Wilkinson, Jr., S. Gassner, and J. Kayes, ‘Some Clinical Considerations in the Prevention of Suicide Based on a Study of 134 Successful Suicides’, American Journal of Public Health, 1959, 49, 7, 888–99.

    27. B. Barraclough, J. Bunch, B. Nelson, and P. A. Sainsbury, ‘A Hundred Cases of Suicide: Clinical Aspects’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 1974, 125, 355–73.

    28. M. M. Henriksson et al, ‘Mental Disorders and Comorbidity in Suicide’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 1993, 150, 6, 935–40.

    29. Y. Conwell et al, ‘Relationships of Age and Axis I Diagnoses in Victims of Completed Suicide: A Psychological Autopsy Study’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 1996, 153, 8, 1001–8.

    30. A. L. Beautrais, ‘A Case Control Study of Suicide and Attempted Suicide in Older Adults’, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2002, 32, 1, 1–9.

    31. L. Vijayakumar and S. Rajkumar, ‘Are Risk Factors for Suicide Universal? A Case Control Study in India’, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1999, 99, 407–11.

    32. M. R. Phillips, G. Yang, Y. Zhang, L. Wang, H. Ji, and M. Zhou, ‘Risk Factors for Suicide in China: A National Case-control Psychological Autopsy Study’, Lancet, 2002, 360, 1728–36.

    33. D. Shaffer, ‘Suicide in Childhood and Adolescence’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1974, 15, 275–91.

    34. M. S. Gould, P. Fisher, M. Parides, M. Flory, and D. Shaffer, ‘Psychosocial Risk Factors of Child and Adolescent Completed Suicide’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1996, 53, 1155–62.

    35. M. Waern, ‘Mental Disorder in Elderly Suicides: A Case-control Study’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2002, 159, 3, 450–5.

    36. E. C. Harris and B. Barraclough, ‘Suicide as an Outcome for Mental Disorders: A Meta-analysis’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 1997, 170, 205–28.

    37. J. M. Bostwick and V. S. Pankratz, ‘Affective Disorders and Suicide Risk: A Re-examination’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2000, 157, 12, 1925–32.

    38. P. B. Mortensen, E. Agerbo, T. Erikson, P. Qin, and N. Westergaard-Nielsen, ‘Psychiatric Illness and Risk Factors for Suicide in Denmark’, Lancet, 2000, 355, 9–12.

    39. A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, M. Kovacs, and B. Garrison, ‘Hopelessness and Eventual Suicide: A 10-Year Prospective Study of Patients Hospitalized with Suicidal Ideation’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 1985, 142, 559–63.

    40. J. M. G. Williams and K. Broadbent, ‘Autobiographical Memory in Suicide Attempters’, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1986, 95, 2, 144–9.

    41. J. M. G. Williams, T. Barnhofer, C. Crane, and A. T. Beck, ‘Problem Solving Deteriorates Following Mood Challenge in Formerly Depressed Patients with a History of Suicidal Ideation’, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2005, 114, 3, 421–31.

    42. J. Jollant, ‘Impaired Decision Making in Suicide Attempters’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2005, 162, 2, 304–10.

    43. M. K. Nock et al, ‘Measuring the "Suicidal Mind": Implicit Cognition Predicts Suicidal Behavior’, Psychological Science, 2010, 21, 4, 511–17.

    44. A. Roy, ‘Family History of Suicide’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1983, 40, 971–4.

    Part 5: Determinants of Suicide Behaviour: (2) Biological, Familial, and Genetic Factors

    45. D. J. Statham et al, ‘Suicidal Behaviour: An Epidemiological and Genetic Study’, Psychological Medicine, 1998, 28, 839–55.

    46. P. H. Wender et al., ‘Psychiatric Disorders in the Biological and Adoptive Families of Adopted Individuals with Affective Disorders’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1986, 43, 923–9.

    47. J. A. Egeland and J. N. Sussex, ‘Suicide and Family Loading for Affective Disorders’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 1985, 254, 7, 915–18.

    48. P. Qin, E. Agerbo, and P. B. Mortensen, ‘Suicide Risk in Relation to Family History of Completed Suicide and Psychiatric Disorders: A Nested Case-control Study Based on Longitudinal Registers’, Lancet, 2002, 360, 1126–30.

    49. D. A. Brent et al, ‘Familial Pathways to Early-onset Suicide Attempt: Risk for Suicidal Behavior in Offspring of Mood-disordered Suicide Attempters’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 2002, 59, 801–7.

    50. M. Åsberg, L. Traskman, and P. Thoren, ‘5-HIAA in the Cerebrospinal Fluid: A Biochemical Suicide Predictor?’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1976, 33, 1193–7.

    51. L Träskman, M. Åsberg, L. Bertilsson, and L. Sjöstrand, ‘Monoamine Metabolites in CSF and Suicidal Behavior’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1981, 38, 631–6.

    52. H. R. Bourne et al, ‘5-Hydroxytryptamine, and 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid in Hindbrains of Suicidal Patients’, Lancet, 1968, 2, 805–8.

    53. M. Stanley and J. J. Mann, ‘Increased Serotonin-2 Binding Sites in Frontal Cortex of Suicide Victims’, Lancet, 1983, 29, 214–16.

    54. J. Brezo et al, ‘Differences and Similarities in the Serotonergic Diathesis for Suicide Attempts and Mood Disorders: A 22-year Longitudinal Gene-environment Study’, Molecular Psychiatry, 2010, 15, 831–43.

    55. G. Turecki et al, ‘TPH and Suicidal Behavior: A Study in Suicide Completers’, Molecular Psychiatry, 2001, 6, 98–102.

    56. D. Lindqvist, ‘Interleukin-6 is Elevated in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Suicide Attempters and Related to Symptom Severity’, Biological Psychiatry, 2009, 66, 3, 287–92.

    Volume III

    Part 6: Determinants of Suicide Behaviour: (3) Social, Cultural, and Economic Factors

    57. I. Makinen, ‘Are there Social Correlates to Suicide?’, Social Science & Medicine, 1997, 44, 12, 1919–29.

    58. S. Stack, ‘Suicide: A 15-year Review of the Sociological Literature. Part I: Cultural and Economic Factors’, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2000, 30, 2, 145–62.

    59. S. Platt, ‘Unemployment and Suicidal Behaviour: A Review of the Literature’, Social Science and Medicine, 1984, 19, 2, 93–115.

    60. B. A. Pescosolido and S. Georgianna, ‘Durkheim, Suicide and Religion: Toward a Network Theory of Suicide’, American Sociological Review, 1989, 54, 1, 33–48.

    61. J. Neeleman and S. Wesserly, ‘Ethnic Minority Suicide: A Small Area Geographical Study in South London’, London Psychological Medicine, 1999, 29, 429–36.

    62. G. E. Murphy, J. W. Armstrong, S. L. Hermele, J. R. Fischer, and W. W. Clendenin, ‘Suicide and Alcoholism: Interpersonal Loss Confirmed as a Predictor’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1979, 36, 65–9.

    63. D. P. Phillips, ‘The Influence of Suggestion on Suicide: Substantive and Theoretical Implications of the Werther Effect’, Sociological Review, 1974, 39, 340–54.

    64. M. S. Gould and D. Shaffer, ‘The Impact of Suicide in Television Movies: Evidence of Imitation’, New England Journal of Medicine, 1986, 315, 11, 690–4.

    65. A. Schmidtke and H. Häfner, ‘The Werther Effect After Television Films: New Evidence for an Old Hypothesis’, Psychological Medicine, 1988, 18, 665–76.

    66. K. Hawton et al, ‘Effects of a Drug Overdose in a Television Drama on Presentations to Hospital for Self Poisoning: Time Series and Questionnaire Study’, British Medical Journal, 1999, 318, 972–7.

    67. G. Sonneck, E. Etzersdorfer, and S. Nagel-Kuess, ‘Imitative Suicide on the Viennese Subway’, Social Science and Medicine, 1994, 38, 3, 453–7.

    Part 7: Postvention: Bereavement and Suicide Survivors

    68. A. C. Cain and I. Fast, ‘Children’s Disturbed Reactions to Parent Suicide: Distortions of Guilt, Communication, and Identification’, in A. Cain (ed.), Survivors of Suicide (C. C. Thomas, 1972), pp. 93–111.

    69. D. Wolk-Wasserman, ‘Suicidal Communication of Persons Attempting Suicide and Responses of Significant Others’, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1986, 73, 481–99.

    70. S. E. Clark and R. D. Goldney, ‘Impact of Suicide on Relatives and Friends’, in K. Hawton and K. van Heeringen (eds.), The International Handbook of Suicide and Suicide Prevention (John Wiley and Sons, 2000), pp. 467–84.

    71. N. L. Farberow, D. Gallagher-Thompson, M. Gilewski, and L. Thompson, ‘Changes in Grief and Mental Health of Bereaved Spouses of Older Suicides’, Journal of Gerontology, 1992, 47, 6, 357–66.

    72. C. A. Sveen and F. A. Walby, ‘Suicide Survivors’ Mental Health and Grief Reactions: A Systematic Review of Controlled Studies’, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2008, 38, 1, 13–29.

    73. M. De Groot, ‘Cognitive-behavioural Therapy to Prevent Complicated Grief Among Relatives and Spouses Bereaved by Suicide: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial’, British Medical Journal, 2007, 334, 994–6.

    Volume IV

    Part 8: Treatment of Suicidal Behaviour

    74. K. Hawton et al, ‘Deliberate Self-harm: Systematic Review of Efficacy of Psychosocial and Pharmacological Treatments in Preventing Repetition’, British Medical Journal, 1998, 317, 7156, 441–7.

    75. G. K. Brown et al, ‘Cognitive Therapy for Prevention of Suicide Attempts’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005, 294, 563–70.

    76. J. M. Green et al., ‘Group Therapy for Adolescents with Repeated Self Harm: Randomised Controlled Trial with Economic Evaluation’, British Medical Journal, 2011, 342, 682.

    77. M. D. Rudd et al., ‘Effectiveness of an Outpatient Intervention Targeting Suicidal Young Adults: Preliminary Results’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1996, 64, 1, 179–90.

    78. M. M. Linehan, H. E. Armstrong, A. Suarez, D. Allmon, and H. L. Heard, ‘Cognitive-behavioral Treatment of Chronically Parasuicidal Borderline Patients’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1991, 48 12, 1060–4.

    79 S. J. Huey, Jr., ‘Multisystemic Therapy Effects on Attempted Suicide by Youths Presenting Psychiatric Emergencies’, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2004, 43, 183–90.

    80. A. Jobes, ‘Collaborating to Prevent Suicide: A Clinical-research Perspective’, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2000, 30, 1, 8–17.

    81. J. T. Maltsberger and D. H. Buie, ‘Countertransference Hate in the Treatment of Suicidal Patients’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1974, 30, 5, 625–33.

    82. J. A. Motto and A. G. A. Bostrom, ‘A Randomized Controlled Trial of Postcrisis Suicide Prevention’, Psychiatric Services, 2001, 52, 6, 828–33.

    83. M. B. Stone et al, ‘Risk of Suicidality in Clinical Trials of Antidepressants in Adults: Analysis of Proprietary Data Submitted to US Food and Drug Administration’, British Medical Journal, 2009, 339, 2880.

    84. J. A. Bridge et al, ‘Clinical Response and Risk for Reported Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts in Pediatric Antidepressant Treatment: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007, 297, 15, 1683–96.

    85. A. Cipriani, H. Pretty, K. Hawton, and J. R. Geddes, ‘Lithium in the Prevention of Suicidal Behavior and All-cause Mortality in Patients with Mood Disorders: A Systematic Review of Randomized Trials’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2005, 162, 1805–19.

    86. H. Y. Meltzer, ‘Clozapine Treatment for Suicidality in Schizophrenia: International Suicide Prevention Trial (InterSePT)’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 2003, 60, 82–91.

    Part 9: Prevention of Suicide Behaviour

    87. J. J. Mann, ‘Suicide Prevention Strategies: A Systematic Review’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005, 294, 16, 2064–74.

    88. W. Rutz, L. von Knorring, and J. Wålinder, ‘Frequency of Suicide on Gotland after Systematic Postgraduate Education of General Practitioners’, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1989, 80, 151–4.

    89. D. De Leo, M. Dello Buono, and J. Dwyer, ‘Suicide Among the Elderly: The Long-term Impact of a Telephone Support and Assessment Intervention in Northern Italy’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 2002, 181, 226–9.

    90. N. Kapur et al., ‘Suicide in Psychiatric In-patients in England, 1997 to 2003’, Psychological Medicine, 2006, 36, 1485–92.

    91. N. Kreitman, ‘The Coal Gas Story: United Kingdom Suicide Rates 1960–71’, British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 1976, 30, 86–93.

    92. R. H. Seiden, ‘Where Are They Now? A Follow-up Study of Suicide Attempters from the Golden Gate Bridge’, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 1978, 8, 4, 203–16.

    93. K. Hawton et al, ‘UK Legislation on Analgesic Packs: Before and After Study of Long Term Effect on Poisonings’, British Medical Journal, 2004, 329, 1076–9.

    94. K. Hawton et al, ‘Effect of Withdrawal of Co-proxamol on Prescribing and Deaths from Drug Poisoning in England and Wales: Time Series Analysis’, British Medical Journal, 2009, 338, 2270.

    95. D. Wasserman, A. Värnik, and G. Eklund, ‘Male Suicides and Alcohol Consumption in the Former USSR’, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1994, 89, 306–13.

    96. M. S. Gould et al, ‘Evaluating Iatrogenic Risk of Youth Suicide Screening Programs: A Randomized Controlled Trial’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005, 293, 1635–43.

    97. U. Hegerl, D. Althaus, A. Schmidtke, and G. Niklewski, ‘The Alliance Against Depression: 2-year Evaluation of a Community-based Intervention to Reduce Suicidality’, Psychological Medicine, 2006, 36, 1225–33.

    98. K. L. Knox, D. A. Litts, G. Wayne Talcott, J. Catalono Feig, and E. D. Caine, ‘Risk of Suicide and Related Adverse Outcomes After Exposure to a Suicide Prevention Programme in the US Air Force: Cohort Study’, British Medical Journal, 2003, 327, 1376.