CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. The Nature and Scope of Suicide
2. Recognizing the Progressive Development of Suicide
3. Substance Abuse as a Major Contributor to Suicide
4. Suicide Across the Life Span
5. Special Populations and Suicide Risk
6. Prevention and Early Intervention for Suicide and Substance Abuse Problems

Supplements
References
Resources

Holding the Lifeline
A Guide to Suicide Prevention

Planned Suicide

However, for many people, death by suicide is not a rash decision. The decision to end one's life can involve years of thinking and planning. In recent years, researchers have gained new knowledge about suicide victims by conducting psychological autopsies. A psychological autopsy is a post-mortem investigation into the cause of a person's death. It is particularly useful in suicide and homicide cases, because there can be so many unanswered questions concerning the who, what, when, where, how, and why of a person's death. ref

Findings from psychological autopsy studies have identified a pattern among many suicide victims of progressively more serious acts of self-harm--culminating in death.