About Suicide

The question 'Why did they take their life?' is complex and unfortunately may never be fully resolved. There is no easy answer - the most honest answer is we don't know.

Some people have a mental illness, although signs of the illness may not have seemed evident before the suicide. The most common condition is depression. Others include schizophrenia, alcohol and other substance abuse, and severe personality problems.

There also is increasing evidence that those who suicide may have an imbalance in their brain chemicals, usually associated with mental illness. Overall, predicting who will take their life is extremely difficult, even for experienced professionals.

Many of the theories can be summed up in the following three ways:

Psychological Theories

Modern psychological theories of suicide are influenced by Freud's work in the early twentieth century. Edwin Shneidman, a clinical psychologist from the United States who is a leading authority on suicide and is considered by many to be the father of modern suicidology, has described several common characteristics of suicide, including a sense of unbearable psychological pain, a sense of isolation from others, and the perception that death is the only solution when the individual is temporarily not able to think clearly due to being blinded by overwhelming pain.

Shneidman and "Psychache"

According to Shneidman, suicide results from "psychache", a word he coined to describe the unbearable psychological pain arising largely from frustrated psychological needs. "There is a great deal of psychological pain in the world without suicide," said Shneidman. "But there is no suicide without a great deal of psychological pain."

He described characteristics that are commonly associated with completed suicide. Shneidman's list includes features that occur most frequently and may help us understand many of those who suicide.

The common purpose of suicide is to seek a solution.

Suicide is not a pointless or random act. To people who think about ending their own lives, suicide represents an answer to an otherwise insoluble problem or a way out of some unbearable dilemma. It is a choice that is somehow preferable to another set of dreaded circumstances, emotional distress, or disability, which the person fears more than death.

The common goal of suicide is cessation of consciousness.

People who suicide seek the end of the conscious experience, which to them has become an endless stream of distressing thoughts with which they are preoccupied.

The common stimulus (or information input) in suicide is intolerable psychological pain.

Excruciating negative emotions - including shame, guilt, anger, fear, and sadness - frequently serve as the foundation for self-destructive behaviour. These emotions may arise from any number of sources.

The common stressor in suicide is frustrated psychological needs.

People with high standards and expectations are especially vulnerable to ideas of suicide when progress toward these goals is suddenly frustrated. People who attribute failure or disappointment to their own shortcomings may come to view themselves as worthless, incompetent or unlovable.

The common emotion in suicide is hopelessness-helplessness.

A pervasive sense of hopelessness, defined in terms of pessimistic expectations about the future, is even more important than other forms of negative emotion, such as anger and depression, in predicting suicidal behaviour. The suicidal person is convinced that absolutely nothing can be done to improve his or her situation; no one else can help.

The common cognitive state in suicide is constriction.

Suicidal thoughts and plans are frequently associated with a rigid and narrow pattern of cognitive activity that is comparable to tunnel vision. The suicidal person is temporarily unable or unwilling to engage in effective problem-solving behaviours and may see his or her options in extreme, all or nothing terms.

The common action in suicide is escape.

Suicide provides a definitive way to escape from intolerable circumstances, which include painful self-awareness.

The common consistency in suicide is with life-long coping patterns.

During a crisis that may precipitate suicidal thoughts, people generally employ the same response patterns and coping strategies that they have used throughout their lives. For example, people who have refused to ask for help in the past are likely to persist in that pattern, increasing their sense of isolation.¹

Biological Perspectives

One perspective is to view suicidality as biochemical in nature. This approach is grounded in the perspective that suicidal people manifest various chemical imbalances that must be treated with medications.

Sociological Positions

Social theories such as those posed by French sociologist Emile Durkheim also influence notions about suicidality. Durkheim's beliefs are linked to the notion that there are societal factors that can influence suicide rates.

Durkheim found that suicide was more likely when a person was not engaged in social relationships or had relationships disrupted through a sudden change in status, such as death or divorce. Durkheim's work has led to the importance of considering the significance of social bonds such as marriage and family and other societal relationships when examining the potential for suicide in an individual.

Some Facts About Suicide

In 2006, 1,799 people in Australia died as a result of suicide. Of these 1,398 (78%) were men and 401 (22%) were women. More information about suicide can be obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

¹ Edwin Shneidman, The Suicidal Mind. 1996, Oxford University Press, USA.