Suicide
hideSuicide (Latin suicidium, from sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest" (e.g., "political suicide"). Suicide may occur for a number of reasons, including depression, shame, guilt, desperation, physical pain, emotional pressure, anxiety, financial difficulties, or other undesirable situations. The World Health Organization noted that over one million people commit suicide every year, and that it is one of the leading causes of death among teenagers and adults under 35. There are an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides every year worldwide.
Views on suicide have been influenced by cultural views on existential themes such as religion, honor, and the meaning of life. The Abrahamic religions consider suicide an offense towards God due to religious belief in the sanctity of life. In the West it was often regarded as a serious crime. Japanese views on honor and religion led to seppuku, one of the most painful methods of suicide, to be respected as a means to atone for mistakes or failure, or as a form of protest during the samurai era. In the 20th century, suicide in the form of self-immolation has been used as a form of protest, and in the form of kamikaze and suicide bombing as a military or terrorist tactic. Sati is a Hindu funeral practice in which the widow would immolate herself on her husband's funeral pyre, either willingly, or under pressure from the family and in-laws.
Medically assisted suicide (euthanasia, or the right to die) is currently a controversial ethical issue involving people who are terminally ill, in extreme pain, and/or have minimal quality of life through injury or illness. Self-sacrifice for others is not usually considered suicide, as the goal is not to kill oneself but to save another.
The predominant view of modern medicine is that suicide is a mental health concern, associated with psychological factors such as the difficulty of coping with depression, inescapable suffering or fear, or other mental disorders and pressures. A suicide attempt is sometimes interpreted as a "cry for help" and attention, or to express despair and the wish to escape, rather than a genuine intent to die. Most people who attempt suicide do not complete suicide on a first attempt; those who later gain a history of repetitions have a significantly higher probability of eventual completion of suicide.
For more information about Suicide, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with suicide attempts
Mental health problems in childhood may predict later suicide attempts in males
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Apr 06, 2009 |
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Most males who commit suicide or need hospital care for suicide attempts during their teen or early adult years appear to have high levels of psychiatric problems at age 8, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of ...
Young adults with post-traumatic stress disorder may be more likely to attempt suicide
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Mar 02, 2009 |
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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—but not exposure to traumatic events without the development of PTSD—may be associated with subsequent attempted suicide in young adults, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of ...
Post-partum suicide attempt risks studied
Aug 06, 2008 |
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Although maternal suicide after giving birth is a relatively rare occurrence, suicide attempts often have long-lasting effects on the family and the infant. In a study published in the August 2008 issue of the American Jo ...
Search results for suicide attempts
Targeting teen depression
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Psychologist Mona Taouk is developing a world-first questionnaire to identify young people at risk of depression and suicide.
Swiss privacy watchdog to sue Google Street View
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Google Inc.'s unstoppable drive to map and photograph the world has run into an immovable object - Switzerland's strict tradition of personal privacy.
CDC's swine flu toll: 4,000 dead, 22 million ill
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Estimates of deaths caused by the swine flu have grown to nearly 4,000 since April, roughly quadrupling previous estimates. But that doesn't mean swine flu suddenly has worsened.
NASA to Begin Attempts to Free Sand-Trapped Mars Rover
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit on Monday as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap.
Research reveals lipids' unexpected role in triggering death of brain cells
Nov 12, 2009 |
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The lipid that accumulates in brain cells of individuals with an inherited enzyme disorder also drives the cell death that is a hallmark of the disease, according to new research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital ...
New water management tool may help ease effects of drought
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Continued improvement of climate forecasts is resulting in better information about what rainfall and streamflow may look like months in advance. A researcher from North Carolina State University has developed an innovative ...
Electronic Waste Needs to Go Green
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Americans love their consumer electronics, but what happens to all the gadgets when their useful life is over? Despite being one of the largest generators of "e-waste" in the world, the U.S. has no federal ...
New 'finFETs' promising for smaller transistors, more powerful chips
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Purdue University researchers are making progress in developing a new type of transistor that uses a finlike structure instead of the conventional flat design, possibly enabling engineers ...
Diet switching can activate brain's stress system, lead to 'withdrawal' symptoms
Nov 09, 2009 |
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In research that sheds light on the perils of yo-yo dieting and repeated bouts of sugar-bingeing, researchers from The Scripps Research Institute have shown in animal models that cycling between periods of eating sweet and ...
Now hear this: Mouse study sheds light on hearing loss in older adults
Nov 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Becoming "hard of hearing" is a standard but unfortunate part of aging: A syndrome called age-related hearing loss affects about 40 percent of people over 65 in the United States, and will afflict an estimated ...
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