Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Suicide Rates as a “Social Thermometer”: Reading the Traumatized History of Lithuania

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Trauma, Experience and Narrative in Europe after World War II

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Experience ((PSHE))

  • 408 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter discusses the variations in Lithuanian suicide rates throughout the twentieth century as objective indicators that might reflect the impact of historical traumas on the mental health of the society. Gailienė analyzes the epidemiological data and finds that historical traumas are reflected in the dynamic of suicide rates. Male suicide rates “respond” to the historical traumas the most. The chapter reveals the traumatic reality that prevailed during the various stages of history, based on study data and clinical material. In the end, Gailienė concludes that the fluctuations in Lithuanian suicide rates confirm the hypothesis concerning the significance of suicide rates as a social thermometer, as postulated in classic works of sociology.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Airi Värnik, Liina-Mai Tooding, Ene Palo and Danuta Wasserman, “Suicide and Homicide: Durkheim’s and Henry & Short’s Theories Tested on Data from the Baltic States,” Archives of Suicide Research 7 (2003), 51–9.

  2. 2.

    Danutė Gailienė, “When Culture Fails: Coping with Cultural Trauma,” Journal of Analytical Psychology 64:4 (2019), 530–47, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12519

  3. 3.

    Émile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology (New York: Free Press, 1979 [1897]).

  4. 4.

    Maurice Halbwachs, The Causes of Suicide (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971 [1930]), 6.

  5. 5.

    Durkheim (1979), 239.

  6. 6.

    Lise Thibodeau and James Lachaud, “Impact of Economic Fluctuations on Suicide Mortality in Canada (1926–2008): Testing the Durkheim, Ginsberg, and Henry and Short Theories,” Death Studies 40 (2016) 305–15, doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2015.1133727

  7. 7.

    Domantas Jasilionis, “Sociodemographic determinants of urban-rural differences in mortality in Lithuania,” summary of Ph.D. thesis (Kaunas: University of Technology, Institute for Social Research, 2003).

  8. 8.

    Danutė Gailienė, “Suicide in Lithuania During the Years of 1990 to 2002,” Archives of Suicide

    Research 8 (2004), 389–95.

  9. 9.

    Danuta Wasserman and Airi Värnik, “Reliability of Statistics on Violent Death and Suicide in the Former USSR, 1970–1990,” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Suppl. 394 (1998), 26–33.

  10. 10.

    Jasilionis (2003).

  11. 11.

    Durkheim (1979), 228

  12. 12.

    Nijolė Gaškaitė, Pasipriešinimo istorija: 1944–1953 metai (Vilnius: Aidai, 1997), 47.

  13. 13.

    Danutė Gailienė, “Why are Suicides so Widespread in Catholic Lithuania?” Religions 9:3 (2018), 71, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9030071

  14. 14.

    Justinas Lelešius-Grafas, Partizanų kapeliono dienoraštis (Kaunas: Į laisvę fondas, 2006).

  15. 15.

    Vygandas Marburgietis, “Naujoji Prūsijos kronika. 1394,” in Baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltiniai (Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 1996), 1, 458–70.

  16. 16.

    Darius Baronas and Dangiras Mačiulis, Pilėnai ir Margiris: istorija ir legenda (Vilnius: Vilniaus Dailės akademijos leidykla, 2010).

  17. 17.

    Sandor Fekete, Armin Schmidtke, Elmar Etzersdorfer and Danutė Gailienė, “Media Reports on Suicide in Hungary, Austria, Germany and Lithuania in 1981 and 1991,” in Suicide Prevention, ed. by D. De Leo, A. Schmidtke and R. F. W. Diekstra (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998), 145–56.

  18. 18.

    Birthe Knizek, Heidi Hjelmeland, Paulius Skruibis, Reinhold Fartacek, Sandor Fekete, Danutė Gailienė, Peter Osvath, Ellinor Salander Renberg and Rudolf Rohrer, “County Council Politicians’ Attitudes Toward Suicide and Suicide Prevention: A Qualitative Cross-Cultural Study,” Crisis 29:3 (2008), 123–30.

  19. 19.

    Antoon Leenaars, Danutė Gailienė, Susanne Wenckstern, Lindsey Leenaars, Jelena Trofimova, Ieva Petravičiūtė and Ben Park, “Extreme Traumatisation and Suicide Notes from Lithuania: A Thematic Analysis,” Suicidology Online 5 (2014), 33–46.

  20. 20.

    Jonas Eimontas and Danutė Gailienė, “Apie savižudybes rašančių žurnalistų požiūris į specialistų rekomendacijas ir jų laikytis palankūs ir nepalankūs veiksniai,” Psichologija: Mokslo darbai 49 (2014), 34–43.

  21. 21.

    Ilkka Henrik Mäkinen, “Suicide mortality of Eastern European regions before and after the Communist period,” Social Science & Medicine 63 (2006), 307–19.

  22. 22.

    Eligijus Raila, Lietuvystės Mozė: Jono Basanavičiaus gyvenimo ir ligos istorija (Vilnius: Naujasis Židinys-Aidai, 2019), 10.

  23. 23.

    Lionginas Baliukevičius, Partizano Dzūko dienoraštis. 1948 m. birželio 23 d.–1949 m. birželio 6 d (Vilnius: LGGRTC, 2014), 112.

  24. 24.

    Baliukevičius (2014), 197.

  25. 25.

    All convents and religious institutes, monasteries and friaries were closed and forbidden under Soviet rule, only a few continued their activities in secret.

  26. 26.

    Ksavera Veriankaitė, Viskas praėjo (Kaunas: Naujasis amžius, 2009), 134.

  27. 27.

    Unpublished memoirs.

  28. 28.

    Statistics Lithuania, Official statistics portal, retrieved from: https://osp.stat.gov.lt/ (15 February 2020).

  29. 29.

    Arūnas Streikus, Minties kolektyvizacija: Cenzūra sovietų Lietuvoje (Vilnius: Naujasis židinys-aidai, 2018); Nerija Putinaitė, Nugenėta pušis: Ateizmas kaip asmeninis apsisprendimas tarybų Lietuvoje (Vilnius: Naujasis židinys-aidai, 2015).

  30. 30.

    Laimonas Tapinas, Prarasto laiko nebūna (Vilnius: Alma littera, 2004), 82.

  31. 31.

    Tapinas (2004).

  32. 32.

    John T. Maltsberger, “Laur’s Final Display: Suicide by Fire,” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 33:4 (2003), 448–51.

  33. 33.

    Łukasz Kamiǹski, “Siwiecas, Palachas, Kalanta—suvokti nesuvokiamą,” Naujasis Židinys-Aidai 3 (2019), 19–24.

  34. 34.

    Danutė Gailienė, “Suicides in Lithuania: Sociocultural Context,” in Lithuanian Faces after Transition: Psychological Consequencies of Cultural Trauma, ed. by Danutė Gailienė (Vilnius: Eugrimas, 2015), 198–216; Kamiǹski (2019), 22–4.

  35. 35.

    Airi Värnik, Suicide in the Baltic Countries and in the Former Republics of the USSR (Stockholm: Gotab, 1997).

  36. 36.

    Piotr Sztompka, “Cultural Trauma: The Other Face of Social Change,” European Journal of Social Theory 3:4 (2000), 449–66.

  37. 37.

    Danutė Gailienė, “Suicide in Lithuania during the Years of 1990 to 2002,” Archives of Suicide Research 8 (2004), 389–95.

  38. 38.

    Jadvyga Petrauskienė and Ramunė Kalėdienė, “Mirtingumas dėl savižudybių Lietuvoje ir jo demografiniai, socialiniai bei teritoriniai netolygumai,” Nacionalinės sveikatos tarybos metinis pranešimas 2001 (Vilnius, 2002), 37–9.

  39. 39.

    Peter Värnik, “Suicide in the World,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 9 (2012), 760–71, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph9030760

  40. 40.

    Gailienė, ed. (2015).

  41. 41.

    Rasa Bieliauskaitė, Dovilė Grigienė, Jonas Eimontas and Nerija Grigutytė, “Evaluation of Changes Brought About by Independence on Three Generations in Lithuania,” in Gailienė, ed. (2015), 48–85.

  42. 42.

    Danutė Gailienė, “The ‘Captive Mind’ Is Worse Than Repressions: Psychotraumatological Study of Historical Trauma in Lithuania,” Rocznik Antropologii Historii 9:12 (2019), 159–76, DOI https://doi.org/10.25945/rah.2019.12.011

  43. 43.

    Said Dadašev, Paulius Skruibis, Danutė Gailienė, Jolanta Latakienė and Antanas Grižas, “Too Strong? Barriers from Getting Support Before a Suicide Attempt,” Death Studies 6 (2016), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2016.1184725

  44. 44.

    Domantas Jasilionis, Pavel Grigoriev, Daumantas Stumbrys and Vlada Stankūnienė, “Individual and Contextual Determinants of Male Suicide in the Post-Communist Region: The Case of Lithuania,” Population, Space and Place 26:8 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2372

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Danutė Gailienė

Authors
  1. Danutė Gailienė
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Danutė Gailienė .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Ville Kivimäki

  2. Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Peter Leese

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gailienė, D. (2022). Suicide Rates as a “Social Thermometer”: Reading the Traumatized History of Lithuania. In: Kivimäki, V., Leese, P. (eds) Trauma, Experience and Narrative in Europe after World War II. Palgrave Studies in the History of Experience. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84663-3_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84663-3_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-84662-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-84663-3

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation