Presents a unique global perspective on suicidal behaviors using new data collected in 21 countries on 6 continents.

Suicide is one of the most personal yet one of the most complex acts anyone can perform and it continues to be a major global public health problem with an estimated 800,000 deaths annually. Suicide prevention is an important target in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, which aims to reduce premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by one-third. Suicide is a global problem, but what differences are there is the challenges faced and the solutions found regionally? Written by leading experts, the nine chapters of this volume provide a clear outline of the major milestones and achievements that have been reached so far in six different geographical regions according to data collated by IASP and the WHO. Recent progress in the development and implementation of national suicide prevention programs in different countries is also explored. In two concluding chapters, the evidence base and best practice of suicide prevention programs are reviewed as well as a look at the future directions for suicide prevention at the global level. This is essential reading for all those involved in suicide research and prevention as well as public health policy and epidemiology who want to keep up-to-date with the latest global developments.

The Oxford Texbook of Suicidology is the most comprehensive textbook on suicidology and suicide prevention that has ever been published. It is written by world-leading specialists and describes all aspects of suicidal behaviour and suicide prevention, including psychological, cultural, biological, and sociological factors.

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.

Suicide is the cause of death for nearly one million people per year. Death by suicide is often reported as being due to other causes to avoid stigmatization and other negative consequences of suicide for the family. It can, therefore, be assumed that the number of people who commit suicide is in actuality much higher than the given number. Attempts at suicide, estimated to be ten times more frequent than completed suicide, often cause permanent impairment and disability. The loss of life caused by suicide presents a significant loss for the communities in which it occurs socially, economically and by blocking progress towards the creation of a civic society. This book brings together current knowledge about suicide, its causes and its prevention, which is a useful tool for public health efforts and for clinicians daily work. The present volume focuses on assessing risk and treating suicidal patients.

Part of the authoritative Oxford Textbooks in Psychiatry series, the new edition of the Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention remains a key text in the field of suicidology, fully updated with new chapters devoted to major psychiatric disorders and their relation to suicide.

This book addresses key historical, scientific, legal, and philosophical issues surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide in the United States as well as in other countries and cultures. Euthanasia was practiced by Greek physicians as early as 500 BC. In the 20th century, legal and ethical controversies surrounding assisted dying exploded. Many religions and medical organizations led the way in opposition, citing the incompatibility of assisted dying with various religious traditions and with the obligations of medical personnel toward their patients. Today, these practices remain highly controversial both in the United States and around the world. Comprising contributions from an international group of experts, this book thoroughly investigates euthanasia and assisted suicide from an interdisciplinary and global perspective. It presents the ethical arguments for and against assisted dying; highlights how assisted dying is perceived in various cultural and philosophical traditions—for example, South and East Asian cultures, Latin American perspectives, and religions including Islam and Christianity; and considers how assisted dying has both shaped and been shaped by the emergence of professionalized bioethics. Readers will also learn about the most controversial issues related to assisted dying, such as pediatric euthanasia, assisted dying for organ transplantation, and "suicide tourism," and examine concerns relating to assisted dying for racial minorities, children, and the disabled.

This is the fifth and final volume in a series of books examining the problem of suicide around the world and how suicide can be prevented. There are many groups of individuals that have been the focus of special interest. Part One of this volume presents current research and interventions for these groups, including those who have chronic medical illnesses, who are homeless and who are very young. Suicide in the workplace and in jails and prisons presents particular problems for mental health professionals, and the problems involved in preventing suicide in these situations are discussed. Part Two presents discussions of issues that have been of particular concern in recent years, such as whether antidepressants precipitate suicidal behaviour in some people as well as preventing it in others and the complex issues involved in physician-assisted suicide.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with more than one million fatalities each year. During the post-war period, the rate of completed suicides has risen dramatically, especially among young men and Aboriginal peoples living in the Western world. While this has naturally led to growing concern amongst health care practitioners and policy experts, relatively little is known about the history of attempted and completed suicide. Histories of Suicide is the first book to examine the history of suicide in diverse national contexts, including Japan, Scotland, Australia, Soviet Russia, Peru, United States, France, South Africa, and Canada, to reveal the different social, political, economic, and cultural factors that inform our understanding of suicide. This interdisciplinary collection of essays assembles historians, health economists, anthropologists, and sociologists, who examine the history of suicide from a variety of approaches to provide crucial insight into how suicide differs across nations, cultures, and time periods. Focusing on developments from the eighteenth century to the present, the contributors examine vitally important topics such as the medicalization of suicide, representations of mental illness, psychiatric disputes, and the frequency of suicide amongst soldiers. An illuminating volume of studies, Histories of Suicide is a fascinating examination of the phenomenon of self-destruction throughout different historical periods and nations.