In recent years, a great deal of interest has been focused on suicide in the elderly and in the young. However, in line with modem trends in psychology, sociology, psychiatry, anthropology, and other human health fields, interest has now shifted to suicide across the life span, from childhood through adulthood to old age. This book has been conceptualized within this developing tradition. There are various ways in which life's timelines can be conceptualized. Developmental theory, we believe, should be open-ended. This has widened-and will continue to widen-our understanding of many complicated human acts including suicide. Though suicide is in many ways the same across the entire life span, understanding the time-lines in the suicidal process is imperative. To do so, however, is, we believe, challenging. In this volume, we attempt to engage in the process of understanding suicide from a developmental perspective. To do this, we have been fortunate to obtain the cooperation of a highly competent group of contributors. One interesting footnote to our list of authorities is that they represent suicidologists from across the life span-a few who are at the beginning of their careers, a large number in their middle years, and a few who are in the Indian summer of their professional lives.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This volume offers a comprehensive and conceptually integrated overview of the changing biological, psychological, and social/environmental influences on health and illness from the prenatal period through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Based on the premise that protective and risk factors vary with life stage, several chapters examine the development of major biological systems and the changing role of genetics and environment over time. In addition, they provide information on environmental influences during the prenatal period and early childhood, chronic illness in childhood, and health and health risks in adolescence. Chapters on adulthood give special emphasis to mid-life transitions in health, resiliency in later life, and the impact of caregiving on health. Final chapters focus on death and dying and on an integrative model of health and illness across the life span.

Twenty-nine collected essays represent a critical history of Shakespeare's play as text and as theater, beginning with Samuel Johnson in 1765, and ending with a review of the Royal Shakespeare Company production in 1991. The criticism centers on three aspects of the play: the love/friendship debate.

This work provides an up-to-date examination of the ways people face dying and bereavement. In this third edition previous chapters are throrughly revised, and new contributors expand areas that have changed significantly. Reflecting the field's complex interdisciplinary character, the chapters cover such diverse areas as psychology, nursing, medicine, AIDS, family studies, sociology, education, philosophy, law, religion, the humanities and political science, whilst highlighting thanatology's core psychological and therapeutic caregiving dimensions. First, the text offers broad examinations of death systems from the vantage points of various cultural, historical and disciplinary perspectives. The second section represents the core of the book, offering detailed surveys of the "data" of death, dying and bereavement as they relate to different phases of our encounter with death as an abstract possibility and concrete reality. Next are chapters addressing a cluster of death-related issues and challenges that confront us at both a societal and individual level - such as AIDS - and finally the volume closes with a few reflections on the complexity of contemporary thanatology, framing some issues and recommendations that deserve greater attention by scholars, researchers, policy makers and practitioners. Also included is a comprehensive resource bibliography on the topic. This text is intended to be of use as a resource for all those interested in reading about death studies, both professionals and students alike.

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.

The latest volume in this multidisciplinary series on key topics in evolutionary studies, Evolutionary Perspectives on Death provides an evolutionary analysis of mortality and the consideration of death. Bringing together noted experts from a variety of fields, the books emanate from conferences held at Oakland University, and are dedicated to providing wide ranging and occasionally provocative views of human evolution. The volume on death covers topics from biology, anthropology, psychology, sociology and philosophy, with contributors addressing how evolution informs the process of comprehending, grieving, depicting, celebrating, and accepting death. Among the topics covered: Evolutionary perspectives on the loss of a twin Nonhuman primate responses to death Death in literature Witnessing and representing the death of pets The role of human decomposition facilities in shaping American perspectives on death This insightful volume showcases groundbreaking empirical and theoretical research addressing death and mortality from an evolutionary perspective, demonstrating the intellectual value of an interdisciplinary approach to understanding psychological processes and behavior. Chapter 6 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

Suicide is a perplexing human behavior that remains among the leading causes of death worldwide, responsible for more deaths each year than all wars, genocide, and homicide combined. Although suicide and other forms of self-injury have baffled scholars and clinicians for thousands of years, the past few decades have brought significant leaps in our understanding of these behaviors. This volume provides a comprehensive summary of the most important and exciting advances in our understanding of suicide and self-injury and our ability to predict and prevent it. Comprised of a formidable who's who in the field, the handbook covers the full spectrum of topics in suicide and self-injury across the lifespan, including the classification of different self-injurious behaviors, epidemiology, assessment techniques, and intervention. Chapters probe relevant issues in our society surrounding suicide, including assisted suicide and euthanasia, suicide terrorism, overlap between suicidal behavior and interpersonal violence, ethical considerations for suicide researchers, and current knowledge on survivors of suicide. The most comprehensive handbook on suicide and self-injury to date, this volume is a must-read text for graduate students, fellows, academic and research psychologists, and other researchers working in the brain and behavioral sciences.

Almost a million people die by suicide every year (WHO estimate) The sheer numbers have made suicide prevention a major health target, but effective prevention is not straightforward. Suicide is a complex event, more complex than most of us imagine, calling for an equally complex response. Psychotherapy with Suicidal People provides a multi-component approach, with rich clinical data including many case histories, to guide the reader. Based on decades of research from across the globe, Antoon A. Leenaars takes the reader into the mind of the suicidal person, from the young to the elderly, from the anonymous to the famous. There is no better way to know, and thus to treat, a person. A plethora of special features makes this volume an international classic and includes: Reflections of many suicidologists such as Heraclitus, Plato, Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim and Edwin Shneidman. A unique window on the clinical mind of the author. Empirically supported definition, with applications across age, gender, historical time, as well as culture. The report of the International Working Group on Ethical and Legal Issues in Suicidology. Psychotherapy with Suicidal People: A Person-centred Approach is essential reading for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and their trainees, and all clinicians who work with suicidal people.

Suicide is a pressing international health problem, yet its breadth remains unacknowledged. The principal purpose of Suicide Science is to expand the boundaries of suicide research, by focusing on fresh approaches to the problems as well as on emerging areas of research emphasis. Expert contributors from related fields of study each lend a unique and meaningful perspective to suicidology. The end result is an important work which will prove invaluable to clinicians and researchers grappling with this vexing public health issue.