Suicidal Thoughts

Essays on Self-Determined Death

Contributions by A Alvarez, Olive Ann Burns, Sue Chance, Rabbi Earl A. Grollman, Eric Hoffer, Kay Jamison, Gordon Livingston, Max Malikow, Karl Menninger, Sherwin B. Nuland clinical professor of surgery, Yale University School of Medicine; fellow, Walker Percy, Rick Reilly, Edwin Shneidman, Rod Steiger, William Styron, Judith Viorst Edited by Max Malikow

Publication date:

20 October 2008

Length of book:

70 pages

Publisher

Hamilton Books

Dimensions:

232x155mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780761841180

Suicidal Thoughts is a compilation of some of the most moving and insightful writing accomplished on the topic of suicide. It presents the thoughts and experiences of fifteen writers who have contemplated suicide-some on a professional level, others on a personal level, and a few, both personally and professionally. Through this collection, the reader is able to bear witness to the struggle between life and death and to the devastating aftermath of suicide. Suicidal Thoughts provides readers with a better understanding of the reasons why some individuals give serious consideration to killing themselves.

Chapter 1 I. Sylvia Plath: A Miscalculation? (A. Alvarez) A brilliant poet ends her life in an apparent suicide. In this excerpt from The Savage God, A. Alvarez expresses why he doubts that it was a suicide.
Chapter 2 II. Uncle Camp's Suicide (Olive Ann Burns) A man convinced of his unworthiness to live commits suicide. From the 1984 bestseller Cold Sassy Tree.
Chapter 3 III. A Survivor's Benediction (Sue Chance, M.D.) A psychiatrist reflects on her son's suicide.
Chapter 4 IV. A Suicide Occurs - The Abuse of Religion (Rabbi Earl A. Grollman, D.D.) A prolific writer on the subject of bereavement provides a history of philosophical and religious thought on the topic of suicide.
Chapter 5 V. A Philosopher Almost Commits Suicide (Eric Hoffer)One of the twentieth century's greatest thinkers explains his decision to kill himself and why he changed his mind.
Chapter 6 VI. The Pact (Kay Jamison, Ph.D.) A brilliant, suicidal psychologist makes an agreement with an equally brilliant, suicidal friend.
Chapter 7 VII. A Psychiatrist's Son Commits Suicide (Gordon Livingston, M.D.) In an excerpt from Too Old Too Soon, Too Smart Too Late Dr. Livingston shares his thoughts in the wake of his son's suicide.
Chapter 8 VIII. Altruistic Suicide (Max Malikow, Th.D.) An Air Force pilot, a pregnant woman with cancer, and four clergymen choose to die for the sake of others.
Chapter 9 IX. The Significance of How People Kill Themselves (Karl Menninger, M.D.) In his classic, Man Against Himself, Dr. Menninger addresses the meaning of the methods employed by those who accomplish their suicide.
Chapter 10 X. Professor Bridgman's Suicide (Sherwin Nuland, M.D.) A Harvard professor and Nobel Prize winner decides to end his life.
Chapter 11 XI. Suicide as a Cure for Depression (Walker Percy, M.D.) A celebrated author proposes the serious contemplation of suicide as an effective treatment for depression.
Chapter 12 XII. Getting a Second Wind (Rick Reilly) Grieving parents make a decision that saves a life and enriches their's.
Chapter 13 XIII. A Suicidologist's Reflections (Edwin Shneidman, Ph.D.) After forty years of research and practice an eminent psychologist offers his understanding of why people kill themselves.
Chapter 14 XIV. Suicide as Psychache (Edwin Shneidman, Ph.D.)Dr. Shneidman elaborates on the term he coined as part of his explanation that suicide has to do with an individual's threshold for enduring pain in the mind.
Chapter 15 XV. I Want to Die (Rod Steiger) An Academy Award winning actor's dramatic reading of his thoughts when suffering from a debilitating clinical depression.
Chapter 16 XVI. I'm Dying (William Styron) One of this generation's most gifted and accomplished authors describes the downward spiral that nearly ended with his suicide.
Chapter 17 XVII. In Control of Our Death (Judith Viorst) A renown psychologist fails to keep a luncheon date when he commits suicide.

It is a testimony to Max Malikow's long devotion to understanding suicide, as well as his editorial acumen, that this book grabs our hearts for both the questions it makes us consider and the people it helps us to understand.