Citation

Ndosi NK. International Psychiatry: Bulletin of the Board of International Affairs of the Royal College of Psy 2006; 3(1): 7-8.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

31507827

PMCID

PMC6734716

Abstract

Suicide is a serious worldwide health problem, particularly among youths. It is defined as the intentional act of killing oneself. Analytically, the suicidal act entails: the wish to kill, the wish to be killed and the wish to die. People who die by suicide know what they are doing and are aware of the consequences of their actions. A completed suicidal act is a complex phenomenon associated with psychological, biological and social factors. It follows severe exhaustion under a continuing assault of stressors when the suicidal individual is no longer able to cope with and to restore homeostasis. In order to categorise a case as a suicide, legal authorities demand unequivocal evidence of intent.

Language: en