Somewhere in the world, in the next forty seconds, a person is going to commit suicide. Globally, suicides account for 50 percent of all violent deaths among men and 71 percent for women. Despite suicide prevention programs, therapy, and pharmacological treatments, the suicide rate is either increasing or remaining high around the world. Media and Suicide holds traditional and emergent media accountable for influencing an individual’s decision to commit suicide. Global experts present research, historical analysis, theoretical disputes (including discussion on the Werther and Papageno effects), and policy regarding the media’s impact on suicide. They answer questions about the effects of different types of media and storytelling, show how the impact of social media can be diminished, discuss internet bullying, mass-shootings and mass-suicides, show the effects of recovery stories, and much more. The editors also present examples of suicide policy in the United States, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Hong Kong on how to best communicate reporting guidelines to decrease the copycat effect, especially in less developed nations where most of the world’s nearly one million suicides occur each year. Although there is much work to be done to prevent media-influenced suicide, this innovative volume will contribute a large piece to this complex puzzle.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a baffling, troubling, and hard to treat phenomenon that has increased markedly in recent years. Key issues in diagnosing and treating NSSI adequately include differentiating it from attempted suicide and other mental disorders, as well as understanding the motivations for self-injury and the context in which it occurs. This accessible and practical book provides therapists and students with a clear understanding of these key issues, as well as of suitable assessment techniques. It then goes on to delineate research-informed treatment approaches for NSSI, with an emphasis on functional assessment, emotion regulation, and problem solving, including motivational interviewing, interpersonal skills, CBT, DBT, behavioral management strategies, delay behaviors, exercise, family therapy, risk management, and medication, as well as how to successfully combine methods.

Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.

Internet has become an integral part of the life of millions of people in the Western countries and in the developing world. Millions of people search for mental health information on the Internet, and there is a lot. Multiple web sites offer a plethora of information on different topics. Recent research suggests that Internet may play a role in suicide prevention. At the same time, there is an increasing concern that Internet may promote suicidal behaviour. Some authors call Internet a double-edge tool. Internet providers try to seek a balance between preventing Internet-arranged suicides and safeguarding freedom of expression. The relationship between Internet and suicide is perplex. Understanding the impact of Internet on suicidal behaviour is an important challenge for future research. This book will contribute to this goal and will be of interest to clinicians, researchers, and the general public.

Suicide and Social Justice unites diverse scholarly and social justice perspectives on the international problem of suicide and suicidal behavior. With a focus on social justice, the book seeks to understand the complex interactions between individual and group experiences with suicidality and various social pathologies, including inequality, intergenerational poverty, racism, sexism, and homophobia. Chapters investigate the underlying and often overlooked connections that link rising rates and disproportionate concentrations of suicide within specific populations to wider social, political, and economic conditions. This edited volume brings diverse scholarly and social justice perspectives to bear on the problem of suicide and suicidal behavior, equipping researchers and practitioners with the knowledge they need to fundamentally rethink suicide and suicide prevention.

In the wake of a suicide, the most troubling questions are invariably the most difficult to answer: How could we have known? What could we have done? And always, unremittingly: Why? Written by a clinical psychologist whose own life has been touched by suicide, this book offers the clearest account ever given of why some people choose to die. Drawing on extensive clinical and epidemiological evidence, as well as personal experience, Thomas Joiner brings a comprehensive understanding to seemingly incomprehensible behavior. Among the many people who have considered, attempted, or died by suicide, he finds three factors that mark those most at risk of death: the feeling of being a burden on loved ones; the sense of isolation; and, chillingly, the learned ability to hurt oneself. Joiner tests his theory against diverse facts taken from clinical anecdotes, history, literature, popular culture, anthropology, epidemiology, genetics, and neurobiology--facts about suicide rates among men and women; white and African-American men; anorexics, athletes, prostitutes, and physicians; members of cults, sports fans, and citizens of nations in crisis. The result is the most coherent and persuasive explanation ever given of why and how people overcome life's strongest instinct, self-preservation. Joiner's is a work that makes sense of the bewildering array of statistics and stories surrounding suicidal behavior; at the same time, it offers insight, guidance, and essential information to clinicians, scientists, and health practitioners, and to anyone whose life has been affected by suicide.

Approximately one million people worldwide commit suicide each year, and at least ten times as many attempt suicide. A considerable number of these people are in contact with members of the healthcare sector, and encounters with suicidal individuals form a common part of the everyday work of many healthcare professionals. Suicide: An unnecessary death examines the pharmacological, psychotherapeutic, and psychosocial measures adopted by psychiatrists, GPs, and other health-care staff, and emphasizes the need for a clearer psychodynamic understanding of the self if patients are to be successfully recognized, diagnosed, and treated. Drawing on the latest research by leading international experts in the field of suicidology, this new edition provides clinicians with an accessible summary of the latest research into suicide and its prevention. The abundance of new literature can make it difficult for those whose clinical practice involves daily contact with suicidal patients to devote sufficient time to penetrating the research and, accordingly, apply new findings in their clinical practice. In light of the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020, this new edition is a timely contribution to the field, and a vital and rapid overview, that will increase awareness of suicide prevention methods.

Over recent years research into suicidal behaviour has burgeoned, and the third edition of this successful pocketbook reflects major developments in the evidence base and clinical practice. New chapters cover risk assessment and system-wide approaches to suicide prevention, and the role of clinical guidelines and national policies is also considered. This edition features extensive updates to the epidemiology of suicidal behaviour across the world, and also considers the individual and societal causes of suicide, particularly the effect of recent economic downturns in many countries. The chapter on biological factors includes the current research on the genetics and neuroscience of suicide. The chapters on interventions discuss the latest evidence from systematic reviews and new randomized controlled trials and highlight implications for clinical practice. The positive and negative impacts of the web and social media on suicidal behaviour are a major focus of research activity and new sections have been included to reflect this. The 'Frequently Asked Questions' section was well received in the previous edition and this has been revised further to include new/updated FAQs on euthanasia, assisted suicide, and suicide martyrdom. Part of the Oxford Psychiatry Library series, this useful handbook is an invaluable resource and quick-reference guide.

Suicide is undoubtedly a worldwide major challenge for the public health. It is estimated that more than 150,000 persons in Europe die as a result of suicide every year and in several European countries suicide represents the principal cause of death among young people aged 14–25 years. It is true that suicide is a complex (and yet not fully understood) phenomenon and may be determined by the interaction between various factors, such as neurobiology, personal and familiar history, stressful events, sociocultural environment, etc. The suicide is always a plague for the population at risk and one of the most disgraceful events for a human being. Moreover, it implies a lot of pain often shared by the relatives and persons who are close to suicide subjects. Furthermore, it has been widely demonstrated that the loss of a subject due to suicide may be one of the most distressing events that may occur in mental health professionals resulting in several negative consequences, such as burnout, development of psychiatric symptoms and lower quality of life and work productivity. All considered, it is clear that the suicide prevention is a worldwide priority and every effort should be made in order to improve the early recognition of imminent suicide, manage suicidal subjects, and strengthen suicide prevention strategies. In our opinion, the first step of prevention is the improvement of knowledge in the field: this was the aim of this present special issue on Frontiers in Psychiatry. In this special issue, several papers have contributed to the suicide knowledge from several viewpoints and we hope that this will contribute to improve and disseminate knowledge on this topic.