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The role of the family in suicide

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Suicide in Adolescence

Abstract

The suicide of an individual is the result of many forces converging at a point in time to bring about the lethal event. The forces are biological, physical, cultural, individual, and familial, the first two, nature, and the last three, nurture. While all forces contribute in varying degrees to every suicide, it is my strong conviction that the family is the most important in shaping those forces and in determining the eventual outcome. Thus, while acknowledging the contributions to suicide of neurological and metabolic dysfunction, the oppressive burden of physical disability in a health-conscious society, the cultural emphasis on individual versus societal obligations and rights, the personality variables of energy level, mood, temperament and self-esteem, it is my thesis that all of these are distinctly modified, shaped, directed and determined by the experiences of the individual within his family as he grows.

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Authors
  1. Norman L. Farberow
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leiden, The Netherlands

    René F. W. Diekstra (Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Director) (Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Director)

  2. Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK

    Keith Hawton (Consultant Psychiatrist, Lecturer Clinical Psychiatry) (Consultant Psychiatrist, Lecturer Clinical Psychiatry)

  3. University of Oxford, UK

    Keith Hawton (Consultant Psychiatrist, Lecturer Clinical Psychiatry) (Consultant Psychiatrist, Lecturer Clinical Psychiatry)

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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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Farberow, N.L. (1987). The role of the family in suicide. In: Diekstra, R.F.W., Hawton, K. (eds) Suicide in Adolescence. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4253-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4253-0_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8388-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4253-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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