PSYX 340 Psychological Disorders · Unit 2: Mood, suicide, body and addiction · on Exam 2
2.3 Suicide
Study notes for Suicide in PSYX 340 Psychological Disorders at Montana State University: the big ideas, a worked example, common mistakes and an exam tip. The same topic has endless practice questions and flashcards in Mathub.
Big ideas
- If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or contact MSU Counseling at (406) 994-4531. Asking someone directly about suicide does not plant the idea; it opens the door to help.
- Shneidman described people who end their lives by intent: death seekers (clear intention), death initiators (believe they are hastening an inevitable death), death ignorers (believe death is not the end) and death darers (ambivalent, acting in ways that risk death). Subintentional deaths are those in which a person plays an indirect or hidden role.
- Durkheim tied suicide to a person’s relationship with society: egoistic (little connection), altruistic (so connected they sacrifice themselves) and anomic (after a sudden change in social structure or one’s place in it).
- Risk factors include past attempts, depression and other disorders (bipolar disorder, substance use, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder), hopelessness, access to lethal means (especially firearms), stressful events, and modeling (suicide contagion after publicized deaths). Men die by suicide more often, while women attempt it more often, largely because of differences in method.
- Prevention and treatment: crisis lines and 988, safety planning, reducing access to lethal means, treating the underlying disorder, and therapies with evidence for reducing suicidal behavior such as DBT and CBT for suicide prevention. Some antidepressants carry an FDA warning about increased suicidal thinking in people under 25, so they are monitored closely.
Worked example
A man who has always defined himself by his job is suddenly laid off after the factory closes; the town’s economy collapses. Which of Durkheim’s categories describes a suicide in these circumstances?
Show the solution
Anomic suicide. Durkheim’s anomic suicide follows a sudden disruption in society or in a person’s social place, such as economic collapse or losing a defining role. Egoistic suicide would stress long-standing isolation; altruistic suicide would stress self-sacrifice for the group.
Common mistakes
- Believing that people who talk about suicide will not act. Most people who die by suicide gave some warning.
- Assuming that improvement means the danger has passed. Risk can rise as energy returns after severe depression.
- Confusing Shneidman’s categories (about the person’s intent) with Durkheim’s (about the person’s ties to society).
Exam tipExpect vignettes asking you to label the type of suicide (Shneidman or Durkheim) and to name risk factors. Keep the two classification systems in separate columns.
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