Rethinking Suicide
Craig J. Bryan
Abstract
This book presents a critical evaluation of conventional wisdom and traditional assumptions about suicide, with particular attention focused on the assumed centrality of mental illness. It argues that suicide prevention efforts have disproportionately emphasized mental health-focused solutions, notably access to treatment and crisis services, based on research studies that are susceptible to bias and faulty interpretations of research findings. Instead of viewing suicide as a mental health issue, suicide should instead be seen as a “wicked problem” that defies ordinary solutions. Wicked problems cannot be definitively solved or eliminated by conventional solution-oriented thinking, and require process-based thinking that may, in some cases, defy or contradict many of our long-held assumptions about suicide. To flesh out this alternative approach to suicide prevention, the book interweaves historical accounts and personal stories with explanations of scientific findings to illustrate the limitations of widely-used practices and introduce alternative perspectives that could catalyze a paradigm shift in how we think about and prevent suicide.