The Suicidal Mind Book

The Suicidal Mind brims with insights into the suicidal impulse and with helpful suggestions for counteraction methods. Throughout, Dr. Edwin Shneidman offers practical, explicit maneuvers to assist in treating a suicidal individual-...

Suicide is an exclusively human response to extreme psychological pain, a desperate solution for the sufferer who can no longer see any alternatives. The Suicidal Mind brims with insight into the suicidal impulse and with helpful suggestions for counteraction methods. Dr. Edwin Shneidman presents a bold and simple premise: the main cause of suicide is psychological pain or "psychache" (sic-ak). Thus the key to preventing suicide is not so much the study of the structure of the brain, or the study of social statistics, or the study of mental diseases, as it is the direct study of human emotions and frustrated psychological needs. To treat a suicidal individual, we need to identify, address, and reduce the individual's psychache. Shneidman shares with the reader his knowledge, both as a clinician and researcher, of the psychological dramas that play themselves out in the suicidal mind through the exploration of three moving case studies. Throughout, Shneidman offers practical, explicit maneuvers to assist in treating a suicidal individual--steps that can be taken by concerned friends or family and professionals alike.

In this landmark and elegantly written book, Shneidman provides the language, not only for understanding the suicidal mind, but for understanding ourselves. Anyone who has ever considered suicide, or knows someone who has, will find here a wealth of insights to help understand and to prevent suicide.