We’ve all had that song we couldn’t get out of our head or that situation we kept playing over and over in our minds. We’ve had the mental Groundhog Day that some thoughts seem to generate. White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts is a thoughtful walk through the research about what happens when we try […]
One of the most interesting challenges with suicide is figuring out how to study it in a way that leads to better assessments and better interventions. That’s the heart of A Handbook for the Study of Suicide: learning more about suicide to address assessment, intervention, and useful models. A Quick History Views of suicide have […]
Years ago, I was doing a conference in the Union Square area of San Francisco, and I received a warning about the homeless in the area. During the day, things were fine; but I shouldn’t go walking alone at night, because many of the homeless in the area had untreated mental illness. As I inquired […]
I was just graduating high school as the book After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s was published. There was, obviously, a lot going on in my world, so I can’t say that the perspectives in America about homosexuals was top of mind for me. I […]
One of the things about researching suicide is you get the very real sense that it’s somehow an internal conflict that boils over into an act of self-aggression. It’s this very real consideration that leads to Karl Menninger’s 1938 classic book, Man Against Himself. In it, he seeks to expose his experiences with people who […]
Reading about suicide through the lens of an author about the death of another author isn’t where I’d normally start. However, The Savage God was referred to by both The Suicidal Mind and Myths about Suicide, so it was clearly a work that held some value for others, so I wanted to read it. It’s […]
While most of the books that I’ve been reading and reviewing over the past several weeks (and months) are focused on the clinical diagnosis of suicide and its prevention, Bruised and Wounded is focused on those who are left in the wake of suicide. The loved ones who must find ways to bravely soldier on […]
In principle, I must disagree with any book that calls itself comprehensive. It’s impossible to contain everything about a topic in one tome – in part because there’s always new discoveries, and in part because it’s hard to define the edges of a particular area of knowledge. Despite my semantic objections, Comprehensive Textbook of Suicidology […]
In my journey in the wake of suicide, the most common thing that I hear is “it doesn’t make sense” or “it is so senseless.” The survivors who must clean up the mess that the person who committed suicide left are wondering why. The Neuroscience of Suicidal Behavior offers no definitive answer but does offer […]
What better way to understand the suicidal mind than to hear the stories of those who attempted suicide, failed, and decided to share their experiences? That’s the heart of Turning Points: An Extraordinary Journey into the Suicidal Mind. The journey begins with an understanding of the researcher, Diego De Leo’s, story before proceeding through ten […]