Are Young Adults' Suicides Psychologically Different from Those of Other Adults? (The Shneidman Lecture)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This Shneidman Lecture addresses the question: Are young adults' suicides psychologically different from those of other adults? Eight clusters (or patterns) as possible predictors of suicide notes and, by implication, suicide are discussed to address this question. The eight clusters are as follows: unbearable psychological pain, interpersonal relations, rejection-aggression, inability to adjust, indirect expressions, identification-egression, ego, and cognitive constriction. Comparisons between young adults (aged 18-25) and other adults indicate that young adults' suicides do differ psychologically in a number of patterns, but that considerable commonalities exist across the adult life span. The presentation emphasizes that a life span developmental perspective is essential when one is attempting to understand the suicides of young adults. A number of genuine suicide notes of young adults are presented to illustrate, from an idiographic view, what it might have been like for these individuals in the last moments of their lives.

This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit: