Suicide notes: what do they tell us?

Abstract

Police investigation records of all suicide cases in 1992 (n = 769) and the suicide notes that had been left (224 notes for 154 subjects) were examined. Note-leavers were characterized as young females, of non-widowed marital status, with no history of previous suicide attempts, no previous psychiatric illness, and with religious beliefs. Suicide notes written by young people were longer, rich in emotions, and often begging for forgiveness. Suicide notes written by the elderly were shorter, contained specific instructions, and were less emotional. A significant proportion of note-leavers did mention their difficulties. Suicide notes may serve some explanatory purpose and may have a therapeutic role in helping the surviving relatives to understand the suicide. A knowledge of the messages contained within suicide notes could be useful for suicide prevention programmes. The significance of suicide notes is best understood within the context of the occurrence of suicides.

Suizidologie: Abschiedsbriefe und ihre Themen

“…Sie reichen von vollständigen Zitaten von Abschiedsbriefen, ergänzt durch biografische Daten und psychologische Interpretationen [15], bis hin zur subjektive Beurteilung von Themen [5] und empirischen Studien über spezifische Korpora, wie indische [6] oder chinesische Abschiedsbriefe [11] oder solche betagter Menschen [22].…”

“…Sie ließen Themen in Abschiedsbriefen von alters-und geschlechtsparallelisierten Lesern erfassen. Die Mehrzahl der Autoren jedoch legte die Themen als Sachverständige subjektiv fest [1,5,6,11] und ließ dann von zumeist mehreren Beurteilern unabhängig voneinander zuordnen [1,17]. Überwiegend wurden jedoch Passagen intuitiv und nicht empirisch Themen zugeordnet.…”

Evaluation of manner of death determination parameters in deaths related to sharp force injury

“…Önceleri mektup bırakmak şeklindeyken teknolojinin gelişmesi ile telefon ve internet ortamları da kullanılır hale gelmiştir (25)(26)(27). İntihar notu kişinin son zamanlarda içinde bulunduğu ruh hali hakkında da bilgiler içerebilir (28)(29)(30). Orijin tespitinde önemli ve intihar yönün-de güçlü bir delildir.…”

“…Orijin tespitinde önemli ve intihar yönün-de güçlü bir delildir. Ancak, not bulunması her zaman intihar anlamına gelmez (29,30). Kesici alet ile intihar eden olgularda intihar notu bulunma oranı %50 -63,1 arasındadır (6,10).…”

A Qualitative Study of Psychological State of Suicide Victims through Suicide Notes

“…6) 마지막 유형으로는, 자살 유서를 남긴 자살 사망자와 남기지 않은 자살 사망자 간에 비교를 하는 것이다. 멕시코의 자살 사 망자들을 대상으로 수행한 연구와 12) 인도의 자살 사망자를 대 상으로 수행한 연구 13 (Table 1).…”