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EDITOR'S CHOICE: Kamran Abbasi Explaining suicide BMJ 2005; 330: 0-g [Full text]

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The meaning of life and suicide.

Sergio Stagnaro   (21 January 2005)

Doctors have higher risk of suicide

Ellen C G Grant   (21 January 2005)

Thinking about suicide

Guillermo A Herrera Taracena   (25 January 2005)

War Of Materialism And Suicide

Dr Karan Grover   (26 January 2005)

Suicide and intelligence?

Dr. Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS   (27 January 2005)

The meaning of life and suicide. 21 January 2005
Sergio Stagnaro, Specialist in Blood, Gastrointestinal, and Metabolic Diseases. Researcher in Biophysical Semeiotics. Via Erasmo Piaggio 23/8 16037 Riva Trigoso (Genova) Italy. Send response to journal: Re: The meaning of life and suicide.	Sir, In my opinion, suicide is not at all correlated to intelligence ratings, if we pay our attention to both the large number of suicides and to the single ones, according to my theory of Single Patient Based Medicine (2, 3). Such as mental behaviour allows us to avoid the different, controversial views. A large number of individuals showing poor performance in intelligence tests are delighted with their life and are able to able to identify solutions to problems in times of crisis. In addition, we find suicides among rich as well as poor people. Interestingly, also in my country, the number of suicides among young adults has increased, but it has declined among older adults. I think, that accounts for the reason that one of the main cause of suicide around the world is really the lack of understanding of the meaning of life. In fact, young and old people have to find mainly the fundamental and proper question on the sense and significance (Sinn und Bedeutung) of the destiny of human beings (4). 1) Abbasi K.Explaining suicide. BMJ 2005;330 (22 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7484.0-g 2) Stagnaro Sergio, Stagnaro-Neri Marina. Introduzione alla Semeiotica Biofisica. Il Terreno oncologico”. Travel Factory SRL., Roma, 2004. http://www.travelfactory.it/semeiotica_biofisica.htm 3) Stagnaro S., Stagnaro-Neri M., Single Patient Based Medicine.La Medicina Basata sul Singolo Paziente: Nuove Indicazioni della Melatonina. Travel Factory SRL., Roma, 2004. 4) Stagnaro S. What is a good death?: Good death will happen if life was good. BMJ 2003; 327: 1047 [MEDLINE] Competing interests: None declared
Doctors have higher risk of suicide 21 January 2005
Ellen C G Grant, physician and medical gynaecoloigist 20 Coombe Ridings, Kingston-upon-Thames. KT2 7JU,UK Send response to journal: Re: Doctors have higher risk of suicide	The medical profession may have some difficulty understanding suicides because doctors seem to be particularly unable to prevent suicides among themselves.1 A recent study found women doctors had more than twice the risk of suicide, and male physicians 41% more risk of suicide, compared to the general population.2 Does this reflect deprivation or lower intelligence in women doctors or is it the result of their indoctrination into taking hormones and/or psychoactive drugs which impair their ability to cope with the demands of families and work?3 ellengrant@onetel.com 1 Abbasi K. Explaining suicide. BMJ 2005; 330: 0-g 2 Schernhammer ES, Colditz GA. Suicide rates among Physicians: A Quantitative and Gender Assessment (Meta-Analysis). Am J Psychiatry 2004; 161:2295-2302. 3 Grant ECG. High risk of suicide for women doctors http://bmj.com/cgi/eletters/329/7480/1496-a#90710, 30 Dec 2004 Competing interests: None declared
Thinking about suicide 25 January 2005
Guillermo A Herrera Taracena, Medical Epidemiologist 2315 Greenglade Rd. Atlanta GA, 30345 Send response to journal: Re: Thinking about suicide	The three articles published in the January 22 edition of the BMJ made me think about suicide. Not that I thought of taking my life but of all the people I have met who have ended up taking their lives when faced with a continuum without a clear exit or alternatives. My first real contact with suicide was when dealing with people who had been abused or tortured under different circumstances in Central America. The twist to this experience is that I also had to deal with those who tortured and executed human beings without any evident trace of remorse. These people were middle ranking career-trained security forces who saw torture as a part of their work and as a needed evil to control left wing activists. I must say that when you have seen and experienced first hand the horrors of war it is difficult to continue believing and keep sanity in a society that prefers to look inwards and deny such events even though they are current, daily events. Among guerrilla combatants and left wing activists most of those who I knew committed suicide were highly intelligent and caring human beings. Among the government troops, most of the cases were young recruits who were forced to commit the most atrocious acts against unarmed civilians. Later on, when I found myself as a refugee I saw a different face among fellow homeless people. Abuse, neglect, poverty, depression, despair, drug addiction, was common place and suicide was just the end or the exit to an existence without hope. It was not unheard of that fellow asylum seekers attempted suicide when their cases were denied and then placed under arrest before deportation. What about finding yourself in a refugee camp after having lost property, family, friends, relatives and now you are treated like trash and locked in for your own sake and security. It does not matter that you are an able human being with a profession and skills that could be well utilized to help other human beings in the camp. It is just as if you have ceased to exist. Some of the people I have admired the most and who had survived torture ended up taking their lives after predicating hope, forgiveness, and trust in humanity. How to explain suicide? Is it a case of IQ, nationality, deprivation, or a bit of everything? In Spanish we say that “de poetas y locos todos tenemos un poco” (we all have the traits of poets and of mad people). Suicide is to me a reality in war torn countries, the streets of London, in refugee camps, or among our relatives and friends. It does not need explaining, it needs understanding; listening and opening our eyes to those realities we think are alien because we live in protected environments. It does not need explaining, it needs solutions; creating alternatives, caring environments, open societies. Paraphrasing Gabriel Garcia Marquez, suicide is like the tale of a death foretold and as Primo Levi would have told us, if we (with scientific studies, knowledge, opportunities, and access to decision making) do not find a solution now, who will? Competing interests: None declared
War Of Materialism And Suicide 26 January 2005
Dr Karan Grover, Clinical Observer West Ward 1A,Whitchurch Hospital,Cardiff CF14 7XB UK Send response to journal: Re: War Of Materialism And Suicide	In today`s world of materialism there is an increase thirst to gain more and more privileges which can lead to an increase risk of suicide.The three studies published in the 22nd January edition of BMJ has this point in common.Men who have lower intelligent scores will naturally be less able to excel in the society than their counterparts.It can be true for financial as well as other social aspects.This results in dissatisfaction which can lead to depression with a possibility of self harm as found by Rasmussen & coulleagues. Same thing can be true for the other two studies as the suicide rate among young adults is highest in the most deprived areas of Scotland and the loss of privileged position among the Russian immigrants in Estonia has led to increased suicidal behaviours.This is all due to an increase in the privilege seeking behaviour. This is a high time to save ourselves and our younger generation from this ongoing war of materialism before it becomes irrepairable. Competing interests: None declared
Suicide and intelligence? 27 January 2005
Dr. Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS, Associate Professor & Consultant Psychiatrist POBox.59046,College of Medicine, King Fahd Medical City, Riyadh, KSA. Send response to journal: Re: Suicide and intelligence?	Dear sir: Suicide is with us and it is not going to part with us despite centuries preventive, epidemiological, phenomenological, etiologic, diagnostic, curative, therapeutic and rehabilitative research into its dynamics which change with time like climatic changes that occur worldwide. Suicide is a complex biopsychosocial phenomenon and unsurprisingly its incidence is on the increase or atleast it is not decreasing globally which is probably due to ever increasing multiple stresses of life, which finally succumbs to them and moreover becomes meaningless over a period of time. Poverty is the deadliest factor and the most powerful source of pessimism that drive people to commit suicide. As regards intelligence, people with profound,severe, and moderate mental retardation [MR] die accidently or naturally but prematurely rather than suicide. On the other hand, people with mild or borderline MR may relatively be more prone to commit suicide than the normal people who have probleming solving competencies intact, but probably this will not be applicable to all cultures of the world, because in some cultures intellectually retarded people are not subjected to strains and stresses of daily life. Suicide is a preventable cause of death, mostly premature and all concerned people should do their best to reduce its incidence across all nations. Competing interests: None declared