Glossary of Suicide Terms

In the Suicidiology, a recent discipline that deals with the study of the various aspects related to suicide and its prevention, has not yet been published a glossary of suicidal terms despite the use of these words from ancient times to our days. The word suicide was accepted by the Royal Spanish Academy in 1817 and its paternity is attributed to the French through Abbe Desfontaines or Abbe Prevost and to the English through Charleton, Browne and Phillips. Given the expressed need, in Psychology-Online, we have written a Glossary of Suicide Terms.

Index

1. Theoretical framework
2. Glossary A - F
3. Glossary G - O
4. Glossary P - S
5. Glossary T - V

In the 19th century, Suicidiology received valuable contributions from the Sociological Theories of E. Durkheim and followers and of the Psychological Theories of S. Freud and his followers, which have not ceased yet. Between 1950 and 1970 the biological factors of suicidal behavior began to occupy a space in the body of knowledge of the Suicidiology, those who have contributed to a more integrative explanation of suicide, behavior inherent to man as a biological being, psychological and social.

More recently, other conceptual aspects have been added, given by those who advocate suicide prevention as a cause of preventable death and those who consider that suicide should be facilitated to those who wish to die prematurely, which is called suicide assisted.

In the last decades there has been a large number of books and articles related to some aspect of Suicidiology but not a glossary of suicidal terms. This is the first attempt to group multiple concepts on the subject. The personalities who made valuable contributions to the study of suicide have not been included, nor have the journals dedicated to the prevention of suicide and the dissemination of research respectively, only those international organizations that are dedicated to the prevention of behavior suicide.

It is a short glossary in which they have been included the most used concepts in scientific literature contemporary and that can contribute to increase the suicidal culture of readers in this specific field of knowledge.

TO

Attitudes towards suicide. Set of opinions, criteria, feelings and behaviors towards suicide as a way of dying, those who consume it, try it or think about it. These attitudes are closely related to culture and have generally been divided into two large groups: punitive and permissive attitudes. Punitive attitudes consider death by suicide as a sign of cowardice, a sin, something that must be punished. Permissive attitudes consider suicide a right of the subject, an act of courage, a display of personal freedom, a heroic and ethically acceptable act.

Suicidal act.- Includes suicide attempt and suicide

Drowning Suicidal method used by women in Norway.

Hanging One of the main suicide methods used by males in both urban and rural areas.
Suicidal threat.- Verbal or written expressions of the desire to kill oneself. It has the peculiarity of communicating something that is about to happen (suicidal act) to people closely related to the subject making the threat.

Suicidal history.- It includes, mainly, the previous suicidal acts that a subject has carried out. It can also be used to refer to the presence of relatives who have had this history.

Firearm. One of the main suicidal methods.

International Association for Suicide Prevention.- One of the associations in charge of the study and prevention of suicide. It is known by the acronym IASP.

International Association of Thanatology and Suicide.- One of the associations in charge of the study of death, dying and grief, as well as the study and prevention of suicide. It is known by the acronym AITS.

Intentional self-harm.- In English 'deliberate self harm' (dsh). Name used to designate the suicide attempt.

Self-mutilation.- Act by which a subject severs or cuts any part of her body. It doesn't necessarily have to be for suicidal purposes.

Psychological autopsy. Research on completed suicide carried out through interviews, structured and semi-structured to the relatives of the deceased, his treating doctor, neighbors, friends and how many people are necessary. Its objective is to determine if suicide was the cause of death as well as the signs that foreshadowed what happened. The term was proposed by Professor Norman Farberow, Professor Edwin Shneidman, and Professor Curphey.

B

Befrienders International.- Name of the largest volunteer suicide prevention organization. It is known as BI.

C

Suicide Prevention Center.- Institution for the treatment of people in suicidal crisis, in which various therapeutic modalities are offered in which mental health professionals and volunteers participate. You can pay attention face-to-face or through phone calls.

Cybersuicide.- Influence of information on suicide appeared on the Internet on the incidence of suicides in those who surf the network of networks. Suicidal games, suicide jokes and suicide music can be found, preferably metallic rock. One of the most active groups is alt. suicide. Holiday (ash) appeared in the 80s, for those who want to discuss suicidal options and for those who consider suicide as a possibility open to all. Suicidal methods are described, from the best known and effective to the most frivolous, reaching more than 40. Suicide notes and advertisements may appear inciting suicide.

Suicidal circumstances.- They are those particularities that accompany the suicidal act, among which the location or place where it occurred (family, unfamiliar, remote, close), the possibility of being discovered (high, uncertain, unlikely, probable, accidental), accessibility for rescue (ask for help, leave notes or other indications that facilitate be found, or conversely, take the necessary precautions not to be discovered), time needed to be discovered, probability of receiving care medical, etc.

Suicidal communication.- They are the conscious or unconscious manifestations of the suicidal tendency. Such statements must appear in a certain context to be interpreted as such. Sometimes this is not possible until after the suicide has occurred, which is investigated by psychological autopsy. Suicidal communication is classified as follows:
Verbal direct suicidal communication.- It is the one in which the wishes of the subject to put an end to his life are explicitly expressed, as for example: 'I'm going to kill myself', 'I'm going to commit suicide', 'What I have to do is finish once and for all all'.
Nonverbal direct suicidal communication.- It is one in which certain acts are carried out that indicate the possibility of a suicidal act being carried out in a short time such as; access methods, leave goodbye notes, distribute valuable possessions, etc.
Verbal indirect suicidal communication.- It is the one in which phrases are expressed that do not explicitly state suicidal intentions but are implicit in said message, as in the following phrases:
'Maybe we won't see each other again', 'I want to be remembered as a person who was not bad despite everything', 'Don't worry, I won't give you any more trouble'.
Indirect nonverbal suicidal communication.- It consists of the performance of acts that, although they do not indicate the imminent suicidal possibility, are related to a premature death: making a will, planning funerals, predilection for suicide-related topics, etc.

Self-destructive behavior.- Collective term given to a group of acts performed by a subject that involve damage or risk of harm such as burning oneself with cigarettes, mutilating parts of the body, or performing acts suicidal.

Suicidal behavior.- Collective term that includes suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, and suicide

Suicidal context. Set of basic elements necessary for self-destruction.

Non-suicidal contract.- It is a pact that the therapist makes with a subject at risk of suicide whose primary objective is to commit him not to harm himself, not to attempt suicide,
Holding him responsible with his own life. The non-suicidal contract does not guarantee that the subject will not commit suicide,
For this reason, it should never be used with those individuals who are not in obvious conditions to comply with it.

Suicidal crisis.- It is that crisis in which, once the subject's creative and compensatory reactive-adaptive mechanisms have been exhausted, the suicidal intentions, existing the possibility that the individual solves or tries to solve the problematic situation by means of the self-harm. This type of crisis requires proper time management, being directive, and trying to keep the person alive as the main objective. Its duration is variable, from hours to days, rarely weeks and the resolution can be personal growth with a better adaptation to living, the resolution with an abnormal functioning that increases the chances of a new crisis and the performance of a suicidal act.

Carer. Person who offers his care to another who needs it.

D

Self-inflicted damage. They are the harmful effects that result from making a suicide attempt or suicide. It also includes the consequences of self-destructive acts carried out by the subject without the intention of dying.

Duel. Reactive manifestations to the death of a loved one. Stigmatization, suicidal ideas, guilt, the search for why, the fear of belated repentance, when the forces were not sufficient to prevent the next death, among the most frequent.

AND

Werther effect.- Term proposed by D. P. Phillips in 1974 to describe the effect of suggestion on suicidal behavior. Johan Wolfang von Goethe in 1774 published his novel The Sorrows of Young Werther in which the story of a young man is told, talented, who plunges into speculations, daydreams, until despairing of amorous passions, commits suicide by shooting himself in head. Its sale had to be banned in various parts of Europe because it triggered numerous suicides in young people using the same method.

Suicide prevention strategies.- Way of managing suicide prevention. There are national and local strategies. Among the nations that have developed suicide prevention strategies are Finland, England, Japan, Sweden. Norway, Cuba, Denmark, etc. The World Health Organization has suggested six main actions to reduce suicide deaths: treatment of mental illness, control of possession of firearms, detoxification of household gas and motor vehicle fumes, control the availability of toxic substances, reduce sensational news in the media of a nature massive

Acute stressors.- They are the precipitating factors of a suicidal act, common to all human beings but which, in certain individuals, can trigger said act. Among the most frequent are love conflicts, punishment or reprimands from parents in adolescents, loss of a valuable relationship, etc. They can be considered as precipitating or triggering factors.

Chronic stressors.- They are factors that predispose some individuals and not others to commit a suicidal act, including loss early parental death, separation or divorce, difficulties in family communication, substance abuse, promiscuity sexual, school difficulties, marital maladjustment, divorce, labor maladjustment, unemployment, painful physical illness and disabling, etc. They can be considered as those events that occur in the lives of individuals and prepare the conditions for a Acute stressor leads to a suicidal act (the straw that breaks or breaks the spine of the camel that was loaded)

F
Risk factor.- Attribute or characteristic that confers on a subject a variable degree of susceptibility to contract a certain disease or health disorder. They have the following characteristics: they are individual, since what for some is a risk, for others it does not represent any problem, they are generational, since the factors in childhood may not be in adulthood or old age, they are generic because the risk factors in women are not similar to those of men, are mediated by the culture and environment of individuals, proving that what is accepted in a certain social environment can be rejected in others.

Suicide Protective Factors.- Factors that, for a particular person, reduce the risk of committing a suicide act, such as the support received in crisis situations, the treatment of pain in a terminal illness, the treatment of depressive illnesses, the appropriate ability to solve problems, reasonable self-esteem and self-reliance, the ability to seek help from competent people, etc.
Fire.- Very frequent suicidal method in certain countries, mainly Cuba and Sri Lanka

G

Suicidal gesture.- Suicidal threat taking the means available to carry it out but not carrying it out. Suicide attempt without significant physical harm is also included.
Great repeater. It is the individual who has made three or more suicide attempts.

Self-help groups.- Group of patients who have a common health problem and who decide to work together for the well-being of all, for example: groups of people with suicide attempts and survivors.

Suicidal risk group.- Group of people who present some risk factor for committing a suicidal act such as the depressed, those who have suicidal ideas or threaten suicide, those who have attempted suicide, people in crisis, survivors, etc. The mentally ill, compared to the general population, constitute an important risk group for this behavior.

Vulnerable groups.- They are those groups of individuals who, due to their condition, are more likely to commit suicide than the general population. Includes the elderly, people living alone, immigrants not integrated into the host country, natives minorities such as Australian, North American, Canadian, and Taiwanese aborigines, prisoners, etc. Vulnerable groups are risk groups.

H

Hara-kiri. Traditional form of suicide in ancient Japan, consisting of the penetration of a sword or other sharp object into the abdomen until death itself.

Hot lines.- Term coined by Jess Gorkin, a Boston Glove journalist, in a letter to President Kennedy of the United States of America in 1963. Gorkin suggested setting up a phone to facilitate immediate communication with Prime Minister Nikita Khruchev of the Union of Republics Soviet Socialists and lower existing barriers during the cold war and especially during the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis or Crisis October. The term means the use of a telephone connection to be used in times of crisis. It is a telephone service through which the caller (caller) has a need to present a problem or situation to be discussed, analyzed, or resolved by the recipient (helper).

I

Suicidal idea.- It covers a wide field of thought that can be acquired by the following forms of presentation:
The desire to die, the first step that indicates the subject's dissatisfaction with their way of life and the gateway to suicidal ideation. The expression 'life is not worth living' is common, 'to live like this it is preferable to be dead'
Suicidal representation consisting of passive suicidal fantasies (imagining hanging)
The suicidal idea without a determined method, when the subject wishes to commit suicide and when asked how he has to do it, he responds that he does not know how.
The suicidal idea with an indeterminate method, when the subject wishes to commit suicide and when asked how he has to kill himself responds that either way, hanging himself, burning himself, shooting himself, rushing, showing no preference for one of the they still.
The suicidal idea with a determined method without planning in which the subject expresses his suicidal intentions through a specific method but without having developed an adequate planning.
The planned suicidal idea or suicide plan in which the individual knows how, when, where, why and for what the suicidal act has to do and takes, usually the necessary precautions not to be discovered.
Incitement to suicide. Encourage another or others to perform a suicidal act. This act is subject to penalties by the laws of various countries for being considered a crime against the integrity of persons.
Intervention.- Set of techniques aimed at aborting a suicidal crisis

Suicidal intention.- Deliberate desire to commit an act of suicide. Degree of sincerity or determination of.

L

Lethality.- Attribute of some methods of causing death. It is the consequence of various factors such as individual susceptibility, the possibility of receive immediate specialized care, the conditions of the method itself among the most significant.

Suicidal logic.- Common characteristics that together make up a way of thinking typical of suicidal individuals, among which the urgent pressure to end the unbearable experience of psychic pain that they suffer due to the frustration of some psychological needs, the anguish, hopelessness, helplessness and helplessness, restriction of the ability to find non-suicidal alternatives, fantasies of rescue, etc. It shares many characteristics of the so-called Presuicidal Syndrome.

M

Methods.- Resources, means, elements through which a subject tries to put an end to his life. They can be natural or man-made. Among the first are volcanoes, cliffs, lakes, rivers, seas, desert regions or excessively cold, poisonous animals and plants, large predators, etc.
The latter include firearms, drugs, agricultural poisons, motor vehicle fumes, domestic gas, high buildings, knives, ropes of various materials, wires, clothing, belts, toxic, corrosive, acidic substances, fuels of various types to ingest or dump on top with the intention of setting fire, injection of toxic substances, inoculation of deadly germs, etc.

Methods that are available and culturally accepted are generally chosen. Wrist cutting was common among ancient Romans, harakiri among Japanese, and Norwegian girls despised drowning in the nearest lake, among the mestizo adolescents of eastern Cuba who suffered a love disappointment, the fire. Women generally prefer methods that do not deform their image, while men choose those with which there is no return. Young people may choose a method that has been chosen by a friend, family member, or public figure if it is sensationalized in the news media. They have been divided into hard or violent and soft or non-violent. Among the harsh methods are firearms, hanging, precipitation, section of large vessels. Gentle methods include ingestion and inhalation.

Myths.- Criteria on some aspect related to suicidal behavior, culturally accepted and enthroned in the population that do not reflect scientific veracity. Among them the following can be mentioned:
. Suicide is inherited: False, because it has not been proven that this occurs. What can be inherited is the predisposition to suffer a certain disease in which suicide is a common symptom, such as schizophrenic disorders, mood disorders, etc.
. Suicide occurs without warning: False, since the suicide shows a series of verbal and extraverbal signals through which he is announcing his purposes. It is not an impulsive act, but a process that ends in death.
. The one who wants to kill does not say so: False, since out of ten people who committed suicide, nine said it explicitly and the another gave it to understand, what happens is that they are not always taken seriously or evaluated with due precision diagnostic.
. Asking about the suicidal idea can influence a person to carry it out: False, since in most cases, it is the only opportunity to know what the individual thought and to avoid once known the suicidal intentions, which leads them to ways of done.
. He who commits suicide is always depressed: False because although depression is a frequent condition among those who attempt suicide or those who commit suicide, they may also be carriers of other mental illnesses or physical.
. Suicide prevention is the task of psychiatrists: False, since this task corresponds to the whole of society as a whole, if it is taken into consideration that this behavior responds to multiple causes, including biological, psychological, social, psychiatric, existential, situational, etc.
. A person who does not have knowledge of Psychology or Psychiatry cannot prevent another from committing suicide: False, because the mere fact of listening with genuine interest and not leaving it alone at any time while the suicidal crisis lasts, can help to avoid the act self-destructive. Anyone with minimal skills and basic training in suicide prevention can prevent many deaths from suicide.

Reason.- Reason given by whoever attempts suicide to explain it. In the case of committing suicide, it is the relatives who use the possible reasons or the deceased himself through suicide notes. The alleged motive is not necessarily the cause of the suicidal act. Among the most frequent reasons we have: couple conflicts, conflicting loves, family disputes, humiliating calls of attention to children or adolescents, the loss of a valuable relationship through death, separation or divorce.

N

Suicidal Notes.- They are also called goodbye notes. They are writings left by suicides that can express moods, opinions, wishes to die, relationships with significant others, possible motives, etc. It is not considered to have greater value than verbal communication and its importance in providing data on the suicide has been underestimated.

OR

Oblative. Type of suicide with altruistic characteristics.

P

Suicidal pact. It is the mutual agreement between two or more people to die together at the same time, usually in the same place and by the same method. These are generally highly emotionally linked couples such as spouses, family members or members of the same political organization or religious sect.

Parasuicide. Term used mainly in Europe to refer to the suicide attempt.

Suicidal profile. Psychological traits that could characterize a potential suicidal person such as impulsivity, poverty in interpersonal relationships and hostility, which are frequent but not exclusive features of suicidal. No single profile has been found that is common to all.

Suicidal people. They are those subjects who have tried against their life recently or during the previous year, those who have persistent suicidal ideas or those who are at risk of committing suicide immediately or in a future.

Suicidal plan. Suicidal thoughts or ideas with an adequate structure, extremely serious for those who present them because it means that they wish to commit suicide, using a specific method and not another, at a certain time, for a specific reason, to stop living and has taken due precautions not to be discovered.

Postventional. I end up cradled by E. Shneidman in 1971, to refer to the support needed by those who attempt suicide and the relatives of those who have committed suicide. It is one of the ways to prevent damage.

Suicidal potential. Set of risk factors for suicide in a subject that at a certain moment can predispose, precipitate or perpetuate self-destructive behavior.
Precipitation. Method frequently used by suicide bombers in large cities where there are tall buildings.

Suicide prevention. Measures used to prevent the occurrence of suicidal acts. It is classified as primary, secondary or tertiary prevention. It is also subdivided into prevention, intervention, and direct, indirect, and general post-intervention or prevention.
Direct prevention. It is the set of measures that help to abort or solve through non-self-destructive solutions, the suicidal process.
Indirect prevention. It is the set of measures aimed at treating mental and behavioral disorders, physical illnesses that entail suicide, crisis situations, reduced access to methods by which people can harm themselves, etc.
General prevention. It is the set of psychological, social, institutional support or support measures that contribute to citizens are in a better position to handle psychotraumatic life events and mitigate the damage that they could cause.

Psychological First Help. One of the techniques in the intervention of the suicidal crisis and that consists of the following stages.
. First. Establishing contact with the subject in crisis.
. Second. Knowledge of the problem and its characteristics.
. Third Find possible non-suicidal solutions.
. Quarter. Concrete action
. Fifth. Tracing.

Suicidal process. Time lapse from the subject had the first planned suicidal thought to the completion of the attempt or suicide. The term emphasizes development over time, suggesting that suicide is not an act that occurs at the impulse of the person who commits it, but rather that it has a previous history.

Suicidal project. Term used to refer to suicide planning.

R

Repeater Individual who has made a previous suicide attempt or who has previously made a suicide attempt.

Suicidal representation. They are suicidal fantasies or mental images in which the subject perceives himself carrying several made the self-destructive purposes of him, without the suicidal context to endanger the lifetime.
Suicidal risk. Term used to refer to subjects at risk of committing a suicidal act in the immediate future or those who could commit it during their lives.

S

Samaritans.- Suicide prevention organization made up of volunteers trained in the art of listening and who carry out their interventions face to face or by phone.

Seppuku. Traditional form of suicide in ancient Japan alongside harakiri.

Meaning. Implicit message in every suicidal act that is discovered through the question What for and that can be answered in different ways. To die, to claim attention, to ask for help, to attack others, to reunite with loved ones deceased, to show others how big the problems are, to avoid facing situations conflictive, etc. It is not the reason, since it answers the question Why.
Presuicidal Syndrome. Mental state immediately before the suicidal act, described by E. Ringel in 1949 and consisting of constriction of affect and intellect, inhibition of aggressiveness and suicidal fantasies, which reinforce each other. Presuicidal or presuicidal syndrome is not part of any psychiatric illness, but it is a common denominator of those disorders that lead to suicide.

Suicidal situation. A situation that carries a high risk of committing a suicidal act, as is the case of an individual who has made a suicide attempt and currently has depression.

Survivors.- Those who survive a suicide, among which are family, friends, attending doctors, etc.

Suicide. I end with multiple meanings including the one who has ended his life by suicide, the one who has made suicide attempts of serious character with danger to life, the one who performs reckless acts with danger to life or to his physical, psychological or development Social.

Suicide. According to the NASH classification, it is one of the ways of dying in which the individual, using a certain method, self-adds, the result of this aggression leads to death. It is the homicide of oneself, the suicidal act that ends in death.

Suicidiology. It is the scientific study of suicidal behavior in its preventive, intervention and rehabilitation aspects. It includes the study of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, suicide and its prevention.

Accidental suicide. It is the suicide of subjects who did not want to die but who made a suicide attempt with a high lethality method. It is the death of a subject who did not want to die due to some complication of the method used.

Altruistic suicide. One of the basic types of suicide proposed by the French sociologist E. Durkheim in his book The Suicide, published in 1897 and that occurs in those societies in which there is an excessive integration between the subject and his group. Not committing suicide in certain situations is a dishonor. Harakiri in ancient Japan is an example, for continuing to live was nothing short of disgraceful. The Hindu widow who died on the burning pyre of the remains of her deceased husband is another example.

Suicide expanded. The suicidal person deprives of life others who do not wish to die. It may be the case that the individual who induces the suicide of a group of people or causes the death of several family members, do not commit suicide later due to unforeseen circumstances or failure of the method chosen one.

Anomic suicide. Another of the basic types of suicide proposed by E. Durkheim, which occurs when the interaction between the subject and the social group to which he belongs is broken, leaving the individual without alternative norms.

Apparent suicide. Death likely to be caused by suicide

Assisted suicide. The term refers to the suicide in which the death of the subject, although it has been caused by the same, have intervened another or other individuals, advising him on how to carry it out, putting the means at his disposal and how to use them, such as For example, a machine that introduces a poisonous substance into a channeled vein and whose operation can be performed by the subject suicide.

Collective suicide. Term used to refer to the suicide of groups of people, mainly for religious or political reasons. Although an explicit suicide pact does not necessarily have to have been made, there is, behind all collective suicide, an agreement implicit of dying by suicide among the members of the group in question that is carried out before a group of circumstances considered previously.

Consummate suicide. Suicide
Chronic suicides. Behaviors that lead to the self-destruction of the subject, not immediately, nor fully consciousness or intentionality, but in the long term and with varying degrees of physical, psychic destruction or social. These chronic suicides include alcoholism, drug addiction, antisocial behavior, neurotic disability, asceticism, martyrdom, etc. The term was proposed by K. Menninger.

Double suicide. Suicide of two related people, who may or may not have made a suicide pact. They can be a father or mother and child, siblings, spouses, etc.

Selfish suicide. One of the types of suicide described by E. Durkheim that occurs when the subject does not have to continue living, since he does not have social ties or belonging groups that provide support. Practically the subject does not have social integration.

Fatalistic suicide. Another of the suicides proposed by E. Durkheim, whose cause is excessive social regulation and the unbearable control that society exercises over individuals in most of their actions.

Frustrated suicide.- It is that suicidal act that did not lead to the death of the subject due to fortuitous, accidental circumstances, unforeseen events, that if they had not occurred, the denouement would have necessarily occurred fatal.

Intentional suicide.- It is the suicidal act carried out by the subject with the deliberate purpose of dying.

Localized suicides.- Term proposed by Karl Menninger in his book 'Man against himself', to refer to a set of aggressive behaviors such as self-mutilation, poly-surgery, impotence and frigidity, illness feigned, etc.

Suicide inch by inch. They are those indirect self-destructive behaviors, considered by E. Durkheim as embryonic species of suicide or suicidal equivalents. They are chronic or long-term suicides.

Rational suicide. Term used to define those suicides that occur in the absence of a mental illness, as a supposed expression of the subject's freedom to choose their own death, especially in those situations in which life does not offer any opportunity, with high intentionality and rational motivations that justify said act. It is considered by various authors that it is an ambiguous, unrealistic term, because it is very rare for a suicide to occur in absence of a demonstrable mental illness or psychopathological condition, as has been concluded by a large number of autopsies psychological.

Suicidal type.- There is no suicide type, but the term is used to define a set of characteristics common to a specific suicidal population, such as the suicidal type in prisons, the suicidal type in schools, the suicidal type among adolescents, the suicidal type in the short or long stay hospitals, the suicidal type in involution or old age, the suicidal type in a locality, a region or a country, etc.

Survivor.- This is the name given to the relatives of a suicide. They are also known as survivors, that is, those who live after the death of the other, and for some authors it does not refer only to the relatives but also friends and treating physicians, who may manifest similar symptoms of grief over the loss as family members of the deceased.

T

Suicide rates.- It is the number of suicides that occur in a locality for every 100,000 inhabitants each year. It can refer to the entire population or to a specific part of it according to age groups or sexes. It is data that must be taken with caution when referring to populations of less than 100,000 inhabitants, and for carrying out actions preventive measures, because for example, the two countries that accumulate the highest number of suicides that occur in the world do not appear among the ten first according to the rates and all those that appear in the first ten places according to their rates only make up a small part of the suicides that occur every year.

Hope Telephone.- One of many names for crisis wiretapping services. In Spain it receives that name. In Portugal it is called 'Telefone da Amizade', in Poland 'Telefon Zaufania', in South Korea 'Love-line', in Trinidad and Tobago 'Lifeline', in Armenia 'Trust Telephone Counseling Center ', in Australia' Lifeline International ', in Germany,' Telefonseelsorge Berlin ', in China' Tianjim Psycho-Hotline Station ', in Ukraine' Ukrainian National Association of telephone Counselor '. In Europe, the various hotlines have been grouped into the International Association for Urgent Telephone Assistance (IFOTES), based in Geneva, Swiss.

Suicidal tendencies.- Attitude characterized by the intention, planning, possible decision or impulse to commit suicide.

Suicidal typologies.- Classification of suicides according to the characteristics that are common to them. For E. Durkheim there are four types of suicide according to the greater or lesser social integration or social regulations: selfish, altruistic, anomic and fatalistic. Menninger distinguishes three types according to the predominant motive for the act: wishes to kill, wishes to die, and wishes to be killed. Baechler describes four categories based on the logic of the suicidal individual: escapist, aggressive, oblative, and playful. Mintz classifies them according to different motivations existing in suicides: hostility towards the previously introjected object, aggression directed against oneself, narcissistic gratification or masochistic, reduction of guilt, destruction of intolerable feelings, as an act of rebirth, as a reunion, to escape pain, counterphobic response to fear of death, etc. AND. Shneidman rates them according to the prevailing unmet psychological need, taking the needs enunciated by Henry A. Murray in his book 'Exploring Personality' and enunciates a total of one hundred: attacking, defending, dominating, exhibiting, playing, avoiding a humiliation, being independent, etc. Pérez Barrero qualifies them according to their ability to take responsibility for their own life and divides them into fully responsible, partially responsible and not responsible, with whom a specific therapeutic relationship must be established during the suicidal crisis (mutual participation, guided cooperation and active passive respectively). Other typologies are those of Wold, Henderson and Williams, Leonard, Berman, etc.

Biological theory of suicide.- The psychobiology of suicide, impulsivity, homicide and other related phenomena has been the subject of intense study in recent decades. These behaviors in which the common denominator is an impulse disorder are associated with the serotonergic neurotransmission and endocrine functions, particularly cortisol secretion and thyrotropin. Suicidal persons are considered to have low levels of serotonin in certain parts of the body. brain and that in the blood show low concentrations of cholesterol and blood group type O of preference. These findings have not been conclusive.
In those who have attempted suicide, low levels of 5-hydroxy-indole-acetic acid (5-HIAA), a metabolite of serotonin, have been found in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Low concentrations of homovanillic acid (HVA), the metabolite of dopamine, have also been found in CSF of those who have attempted suicide and is considered by some researchers to be a more effective predictor than suicide 5-HIAA. Low activity of the platelet monoamine oxidase enzyme has been found in people with attempts at self-elimination and the suicidal behavior with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, due to an abnormally high increase in cortisol excretion before suicide attempt and an abnormal dexamethasone suppression test in 60% of suicidal depressed, compared with non-depressed suicidal. The hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis has also been implicated in self-destructive behavior, as well as other hormones, reporting a marked decrease in testosterone in patients who committed suicide by means of violent

Psychological theory. The main psychological formulations of suicidal behavior begin with Freud and followers, who consider suicide as a crime that has been turned 180 degrees, describe the ambivalence love and hate present in all suicidal uncommon inability to love others behind all suicide, as well as the association of suicide as a form of aggressiveness with the death instinct. Hendin mentions the most frequent unconscious fantasies of suicides, among which are: hostile desire for revenge, guilty desire for punishment, hopeful desire for rescue, etc. For Adler, suicide affects dependent personalities, with clearly low self-esteem, egocentric and aggressive veiled or overtly. Menniger considers that suicide becomes effective if many circumstances and factors are combined, existing three essential elements in all suicidal behavior: the desire to kill, the desire to die, and the desire to be killed. For Shneidman, suicide is a psychic pain and he considers that in the last century there has been talk fundamentally about four psychological aspects of suicide: fight; in which the meanings of murders, aggression, rage, revenge, desire to kill, etc. are included. Flight, in which the meanings of escape, rescue, dream, rebirth, reunion, wishes to die, etc. are included. Scare; which includes the meanings of desolation, hopelessness, confusion, fear, loneliness, panic, psychic pain, etc. Load; which includes the meanings of genetic vulnerability, family history of suicide, mental illness in the family, history of abuse, etc. In English these four words are very similar (the 4 F's): fight, flight, fright, freight.

Psychiatric theory. It is the one that considers suicide as a manifestation of a psychiatric pathology and its origins date back to the middle of the 19th century. For Esquirol 'all suicide is the effect of an illness or an acute delusion'. He viewed suicide as a symptom of mental disorder, but also as the result of human passions. More recently, they believe that most suicides suffer from depression, either as a disorder or as a symptom, some come to consider that in the absence of a psychiatric illness, rarely an individual ends his life for suicide Lastly, having a mental illness is a proven suicide risk factor.

Sociological theory of suicide.Among them we have that of Durkheim, who hypothesizes that suicide is the result of the disturbance between society and the subject as seen compromised their social integration or according to the regulations imposed by society on the individual, classifying them as altruistic or selfish according to degree of social integration; and depending on the level of regulation in anomic or fatalistic. Subculture theory considers that urban and rural lifestyles determine the differences between suicide rates in both environments. The status change theory agrees that a sudden change in social position has a certain possibility of leading to suicide, especially if it was downward mobility. Finally, the theory of status integration proposes that the more stable and durable relationships are social, higher expectations and fewer individuals occupying incompatible statuses, the lower will be the suicides

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Suicidology Unit. Service for the hospitalization of individuals who have made a suicide attempt, have suicidal ideas or suicidal plans with a high risk of doing so. It can be located in a General Hospital, attached to the Psychiatric ward or as part of a Crisis Intervention Unit.

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Volunteers. Term with which the members of Befrienders International or the Samaritans are known, as they are suicide prevention organizations governed by people interested in the subject, with skills for it and who base their work on listening therapy and contacting at an affective level deep. This movement was started by Chad Varah under the name of the Samaritans in 1953, in London. In November 1974, Befrienders International was created from that original movement. Today it is a powerful volunteer suicide prevention organization with centers on all continents and more than 40 countries included. Its usefulness is unquestionable if a suicidal principle that attributes prevention is taken into account of suicide who is closest to the suicide and knows how to recognize the presuicidal symptoms and act early. And that person can be a taxi driver, policeman, student, barber, housewife, grocer, retiree, etc.

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