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
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 ...
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 ...
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
Coroner: Self-help course led to woman's suicide
15 hours ago |
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(AP) -- An Australian coroner said Tuesday that participation in an intense self-help course led a woman to suffer a psychotic breakdown before she stripped naked and leaped to her death from an office window ...
Antiepileptic drugs not linked to suicide among those with bipolar disorder
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Despite government warnings about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and actions while taking antiepileptic drugs, these medications do not appear to be associated with increased risk of suicide attempts in individuals ...
Nvidia, AMD shares jump after Intel scraps chip
Dec 07, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Shares of Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. jumped Monday after rival Intel Corp. scrapped plans to make a new graphics chip that would have challenged both companies.
Deaths related to narcotic pain relievers have doubled since 1991: Study
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Deaths from opioid use in Ontario have doubled -- from 13.7 deaths per million residents in 1991 to 27.2 deaths per million residents in 2004 -- according to a new study led by physicians at St. Michael's Hospital and the ...
New screening tool helps identify children at risk
Dec 07, 2009 |
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When a baby is born, new parents often wonder, "Will he be the next President of the United States?" or "Could she be the one to find a cure for cancer?" But the underlying question for many specialists is, "Is this child ...
Rethinking artificial intelligence: Researchers hope to produce 'co-processors' for the human mind
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 07, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (16) |
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The field of artificial-intelligence research (AI), founded more than 50 years ago, seems to many researchers to have spent much of that time wandering in the wilderness, swapping hugely ambitious goals for ...
Rocket launches Air Force satellite from Fla.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 06, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A rocket carrying an Air Force satellite that will be used by the military has launched from Cape Canaveral.
Researchers restore some function to cells from cystic fibrosis patients
Dec 06, 2009 |
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In an encouraging new development, a team led by Scripps Research Institute scientists has restored partial function to lung cells collected from patients with cystic fibrosis. While there is still much work to be done before ...
New gene findings will help guide treatment in infant leukemia
Dec 05, 2009 |
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Pediatric oncologists have identified specific genes, dubbed partner genes, that fuse with another gene to drive an often-fatal form of leukemia in infants. By more accurately defining specific partner genes, researchers ...
Poll finds sexting common among young people
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Think your kid is not "sexting"? Think again. Sexting - sharing sexually explicit photos, videos and chat by cell phone or online - is fairly commonplace among young people, despite sometimes grim ...
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