Glossary of Suicide Terminology
ABANDONMENT - Unilateral discontinuation of patient treatment by a clinician.
ABNORMAL GRIEF - Prolonged, difficult, complicated response associated with traumatic loss.
ACTIVE LISTENING - Hotline technique to reaffirm what caller says he/she feels.
ACUTE - Sharp, sudden, severe or short-term (e.g., acute grief).
ACUTE MOURNING - Phase of disorientation, dulled senses, denial, yearning.
ACUTE SUICIDE THREAT - Individual has lethal means and voices intent.
ACUTE STRESS REACTION Response to traumatic event lasting 3 months or less.
ADOLESCENT SUICIDE SYNDROME - Impulsiveness, reactive, aggression towards self, social loss.
AFFECT - Psychological state, e.g., feeling, mood, or emotion.
AFTERCARE - Post-death support services to the bereaved.
AGE-CORRESPONDENCE REACTION - Acute grief triggered by age similarity to lost loved one.
AGE-SPECIFIC - Suicide rate broken down by age groupings.
AGENERATIVE SUICIDE - Caused by personal alienation (Shneidman).
AGITATION - Extreme restlessness common in individuals in suicidal crisis.
ALIENATION - Feeling of being apart from or unattached to others.
ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE - Suicide as self-sacrifice (Durkheim).
AMBIVALENCE - Suicidal individual's wish to both live and die.
AMPUTATION METAPHOR - Loss analogy commonly used by grieving parents.
ANACLITIC DEPRESSION - Caused by loss of parent or other dependent relationship.
ANALGESICS - Medications that control or reduce pain.
ANHEDONIA - Inability to experience pleasure; a traumatic loss reaction.
ANNIVERSARY REACTION - Worsening of grieving on dates related to the loss.
ANNIVERSARY TRIGGER - Idea that people tend to die near key dates in their lives.
ANOMIC SUICIDE - Type caused by a disrupted relationship (Durkheim).
ANTICIPATORY GRIEF - Grief in expectation of a loved one's death (Lindemann).
ANXIOLYTICS - Medications that reduce anxiety.
APPROPRIATE DEATH - Terminally ill individual's chosen manner of dying.
ASSISTED SUICIDE - Completion of suicide with the aid of a physician.
ASSUMPTIVE WORLD - Survivor's values and beliefs challenged by loss.
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE - Unsuccessful effort to complete suicide.
AT RISK - Subject to the possibility of suicide.
AUTOCIDE - Use of a motor vehicle to complete suicide.
AUTO-EUTHANASIA - Euphemism for suicide.
AUTONOMY - Ethical principle of individual self-determination.
AUTOPSY - Examination of a body to determine the cause of death.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH - Mental health and substance abuse services.
BENEFICENCE - Ethical duty to help others.
BEREAVEMENT - Process of grieving unique to each person.
BIOETHICS - Branch of ethics concerned with medical research and care.
BIOLOGICAL THEORY - Physiological and neurochemical variables contribute to suicide risk.
BIOMARKER - See Marker.
BLOODLESS MEANS - Toxic substances, drowning, hanging, suffocation.
BRIEF REACTIVE DISORDER - Short-term condition with high self-harm risk.
CAPACITY - Clinical determination of individual capability.
CASE HISTORY - Documented account of a specific individual or victim.
CAUSE - Something which if removed will prevent occurrence of an event.
CHEMICAL DEFICIENCY - Depletion of a neurotransmitter (e.g. serotonin).
CHEMICAL IMBALANCE - See Chemical Deficiency.
CHOLESTEROL LEVEL - Low level linked to violent deaths among males.
CHRONIC GRIEF - Continuance of acute grieve reactions over time.
CHRONIC GRIEF SYNDROME - Abnormal grief reaction with loss of deeply dependent.
relationship.
CHRONIC PAIN - Pain persisting for at least six months.
CHRONIC SUICIDER - Individual engaged in acts leading to suicide (Berent).
CHRONICALLY SUICIDAL - History of multiple suicide attempts.
CLIENT - Patients of behavioral health clinicians and therapists.
CLINICIAN - Physician, nurse, psychologist, social worker, psychiatrist, or counselor.
CLOSED-ENDED GROUP - Support group proceeding on a fixed timeframe.
CLUSTER SUICIDES - Chain of completed suicides by youths.
CODE OF ETHICS - Formal standards of professional conduct.
COGNITIVE REAPPRAISAL - Tactic for dealing with negative thoughts.
COHORT ANALYSIS - Studying suicide rates by age groupings.
COMMITTAL SERVICE - Pre-internment service; before burial.
COMMUNICATION MODEL - View of suicide as an interpersonal strategy.
COMORBIDITY - Concurrence of two or more conditionsor disorders.
COMPETENCE - Legal determination of individual capability.
COMPLETE SUICIDE - Succumb to the suicide disease process.
COMPLICATED GRIEF - See COMPLICATED MOURNING.
COMPLICATED MOURNING - Difficult long-term state after traumatic loss.
COMPLICATING FACTORS - Conditions that increase the severity and intensity of grief.
CONFIDENTIALITY - Maintaining privacy of individual medical records.
CONFIDENTIALITY WAIVER - Patient authorization to disclose suicide risk.
CONFLICTED GRIEF - Occurs in losses involving troubled relationships.
CONJUGAL LOSS - Death of a spouse.
CONSTRICTION - Narrowing of individual outlook and options (Shneidman).
COPING - Individual approach to dealing with distressful situations.
COPYCAT SUICIDE - See Suicide Contagion.
CORTISOL - Stress hormone; possible suicide marker.
CRISIS INTERVENTION - Short-term care for a mental health emergency.
CRY FOR HELP - Expression of suicidal intent in the hope of assistance.
CULT SUICIDE - Form of mass suicide completed by a sect as a group.
CUMULATIVE LOSS - Succession of deprivations/frustrations causing stress or pain.
CUMULATIVE RISKS - Sequence of additional exposure to harm.
DANGER SIGNS - See Warning Sign.
DEATH & DYING - Catchall term for grief services, hospice, palliative care.
DEATH GUILT - See Survivor Guilt.
DECATHEXIS - Cognitive separation, e.g., detachment from deceased.
DECOMPENSATION - Breakdown of individual psychic supports.
DECRIMINALIZATION - Eliminating criminal penalty for an act.
DELAYED GRIEF - Bereavement occuring years or decades after the loss.
DELAYED STRESS REACTION - Response to traumatic event after 6 months or more.
DELIVERANCE - See SELF-DELIVERANCE.
DENIAL - Refusal to accept that loss has occurred.
DEPARTING DRUGS - Euthanasia movement term for lethal medications.
DEPRESSION - Disorder involving abnormal sadness and hopelessness.
DIAGNOSIS - Clinical identification of cause and nature of a condition.
DIRECT DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR - Suicidal ideation, attempts, and completions.
DISCOUNTED GRIEF - Nominal social validation of a loss.
DISEASE - Bodily failure to counteract negative processes.
DISEASE MODEL - See Medical Model.
DISEASE PROCESS - Course of a disease from onset to outcome.
DISENFRANCHISE - Deprive of a right or an entitlement.
DISENFRANCHISED GRIEF - Grief restricted by social pressure.
DISORDER - Clinically significant psychological condition (DSM-IV).
DISTORTED MOURNING - See Complicated Mourning.
DOUBLE SUICIDE - Completion by a couple or by two friends.
DSM-IV - "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."
DURKHEIM, EMILE - French sociologist; wrote "Suicide" (1897).
DUTIFUL SUICIDE - Suicide as culturally defined obligation (Fairbairn).
DUTY - Obligatory action owed to a client by a clinician.
DUTY TO WARN - Ethical obligation to disclose the risk of suicide.
DYADIC SUICIDE - Caused by an interpersonal problem (Shneidman).
DYSTHYMIC DISORDER - Depression, loss of interest and enjoyment.
EGOISTIC SUICIDE - Type caused by lack of social ties (Durkheim).
EGOTIC SUICIDE - Caused by an intrapersonal problem (Shneidman).
ELDER SUICIDE - Occurrence of suicide among the aged.
ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT) - Electrical current applied to the brain.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) - New therapy for grief/pain.
ENDOGENOUS DEPRESSION - Organically-based disorder.
END-OF-LIFE CARE - Services of supportive nature for the terminally ill.
ENDORPHINS - Natural morphine-like substances in the body.
ENSHRINEMENT - Idealization of a dead child by the parent(s).
EPIDEMIOLOGY - Study of nature, cause, and frequency of disease.
EQUIVOCAL DEATH - Indeterminate cause (suicide vs. other).
ETHICS - Principles guiding decisions and behavior.
ETIOLOGY - The cause of a disease or other phenomenon.
EULOGY - Remarks on behalf of the recently deceased.
EUTHANASIA - ("Good death") death caused by other than the deceased.
EXISTENTIAL SUICIDE - Completing suicide because "life isn't worth it."
EXPENDABLE CHILD SYNDROME - Adolescent belief that parents want her/him dead.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY - Research design with randomized control groups.
FACILITATED SUICIDE - Completion occurs because of clinician indifference.
FACILITATING SUICIDE - Legal term for helping in a suicide completion.
FAMILICIDE-SUICIDE - Homicide of one or more family members by suicide completer.
FAMILY HISTORY - Presence of disorder or risk factors in parents, sibs, etc.
FANTASY RATIONALE - Suicide caused by wish for rebirth, revenge, etc.
FEMININE GRIEF - Expressive, emotional grieving common to women and some men.
FILICIDE-SUICIDE - Homicide of one or more offspring by suicide completer.
FIREARMS SUICIDE - Use of handgun, rifle, shot gun as the lethal means.
FIRST-DEGREE RELATIVE - Parent, sibling, child; risk assessment term.
5-HIAA - (5-hydroxy tryptamine) metabolic product of serotonin.FLASHBACK - Recurrent recollection of a traumatic event.
FOCAL SUICIDES - Self-mutilation and deliberate accidents (Menninger).
FRUSTRATION - Inability to meet an important personal need or drive.
FRUSTRATION TOLERANCE - Ability to deal with frustration without psychological harm.
GENDER DIFFERENCES - In grieving, dissimilar behavior by men and women.
GENDER-SPECIFIC - Suicide rate broken down by sex.
GENETIC MODEL- View of suicide as influenced by heredity.
GESTURER - Individual associated with one or more suicide gestures.
GESTURING AT SUICIDE - (AKA Gestured Suicide) See Suicide Gesture.
GRIEF - Personal emotion associated with loss of a loved one.
GRIEF COUNSELOR - Clinician serving the needs of the bereaved.
GRIEF INTEGRATION - Grief as an ongoing part of the bereaved's life.
GRIEF PROCESS - Individual course of grief following loss of a loved one.
GRIEF REACTION - Feelings/emotions accompanying grief (e.g., guilt, anger).
GRIEF RESOLUTION - Outcome of "normal" grieving; abatement of grief.
GRIEF WORK - Bereaved individual's efforts to accept reality of loss.
GRIEVER - Individual involved in the process of grieving.
HEAL - Whole or partial recovery from injury, illness, or loss.
HEALING - Process of recovery from injury, illness, or loss.
HEMLOCK SOCIETY - Organization advocating the right to suicide.
HIDDEN GRIEF - Solitary mourning; grieving pattern common to men.
HIDDEN SUICIDE - Indirect self-harming behavior (Meerlo).
HIGH RISK FACTOR - Social variable associated with high incidence of suicide.
HIGH RISK GROUP - Population segment with a high suicide rate.
HOSPICE - Provider serving terminally ill and bereavement resource.
HYPERVIGILANCE - Grief state involving exclusive preoccupation with loss (Smith).
HYPOACTIVE - Hopelessness, low self-esteem, passive.
IATROGENIC - Harm inadvertently caused by a clinician.
ICD-9 - International Classification of Diseases; Suicide = Codes E950-E959.
IF ONLYS - Survivor obsession with contingencies that might have averted loss.
INCOMPETENT - Inability to perform necessary duties or functions.
INDICATED INTERVENTION - Preventative measures directed at individuals showing risk factors.INDIRECT SUICIDE - Death as unintended result of high risk behavior.
INHUME - Internment; burial of the deceased.
INPATIENT - Individual admitted to a stay at a hospital or institution.
INTERDISCIPLINARY - Involving more than one clinical/scientific discipline.
INQUEST - Coroner's investigation to establish cause of death.
INTENT - Factor in forensic determination of a death as suicide.
JAIL SUICIDE - Occurrence of suicide in prisons and lock-ups.
JUSTICE - Individuals in similar situations are to be treated alike.
KINDLING - Increasing susceptibility to suicide with recurrent stress.
LEGACY OF SUICIDE - Ongoing emotional burden borne by Suicide Survivors.
LIVING LEGACY - Adoption of traits of deceased loved one by bereaved individual.
LETHALITY - Indicates potential of means of suicide to cause death.
LEVELS OF SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR - Continuum of suicidal actions.
LOSS - Deprivation caused by death or other personal tragedy.
LOSS INVENTORY - Self-assessment of personal loss history and loss type over time.
LOVE PACT SUICIDE - See Double Suicide.
MAINTENANCE THERAPY - Ongoing care to manage a condition.
MAJOR AFFECTIVE DISORDER - Alcoholism, bi-polar disorder, depression, schizophrenia.
MAJOR DEPRESSION - Severe disorder that impairs normal functioning.
MAKING FINAL PLANS - Overt actions indicating imminent jeopardy.
MANIPULATED SUICIDE - Completion induced by persuasion (Battin).
MASCULINE GRIEF - Cognitive style of grieving common among men and some women.
MARKER - Physiological indicator or predictor of suicide risk.
MASS SUICIDE - Completion of suicide by an organized group.
MEANING MAKING - Attempting to understand the reason for suicide or loss.
MEANS - Firearms, rope, poison, etc., used to complete suicide.
MEANS RESTRICTION - Preventing access to weapons, drugs, etc. (CDC).
MEDIA CONTAGION - Suicides felt caused by coverage of a death.
MEDICAL MODEL - View of suicide as a disease or caused by a disease.
MEDICALIZATION - Redefining a behavior as an illness or disease.
MEDICIDE - See Assisted Suicide (Kevorkian).
MODERATE DEPRESSION - Many symptoms present; partly affects functioning.
MORBID GRIEF REACTION - See Delayed Grief, e.g.
MORBIDITY - Extent of a disease in a given population; ill health.
MORTALITY - Number of deaths in a given population in a given time.
MORTALITY STUDY - Research on causes of death in a specific population.
MOURNING - Outward demonstration of being bereaved.
MOURNING RITUAL - Formalized expression of bereavement.
MULTIPLE SUICIDES - See Mass Suicide.
MURDER-SUICIDE - Victim commits homicide before completing suicide.
NATURAL DEATH LAWS - State laws allowing dying to refuse life-extending care.
NEGATED DEATH - See Discounted Grief.
NEUROBIOLOGY - Refers to the physiology of the brain and its study.
NEUROCHEMICALS - Substances conveying messages in the brain.NEURON - Brain cell that processes information.
NEUROTRANSMITTER - Neurochemical that attaches to a receptor.
NONLETHAL METHOD - Means that may not be immediately fatal.
NON-SUICIDAL - Displaying no signs or symptoms at the present time.
NONVIOLENT MEANS - See Bloodless Means.
NORMAL GRIEF - Lasts less than 6 months; resolves without treatment.
NORMALACY - Individual's condition prior to onset of a disorder.
NORMATIVE ETHICS - Ethical system intended to influence individual action.
NO SUICIDE CONTRACT - Client agreement to not complete suicide.
OBLIGATORY SUICIDE - Ethical concept of suicide as duty (Cosculluela).
OPEN-ENDED GROUP - Ongoing support group that can be entered at anytime.
ORGANIC SUICIDE - Response to serious physical illness and/or pain (Menninger).
OTHER-DRIVEN SUICIDE - Completion impelled by other person(s) (Fairbairn).
OTHER-REGARDING SUICIDE - See Obligatory Suicide.
PAIN - A stressful and hurtful physical and/or psychological sensation.
PAIN ASSESSMENT - Evaluation of individual pain with pre-set criteria.
PAIN CONTROL - Achievement of optimal level of pain alleviation.
PAIN MANAGEMENT - Drug and non-drug interventions to control pain.
PAIN THRESHOLD - Level at which an individual notices pain.
PAIN TOLERANCE - Level at which pain affects functioning.
PAIN TRIGGERS - Factors that modify the pain experience.
PALLIATION - Intervention to relieve or ease pain.
PANIC ATTACK - The recurring "crisis phase" of a panic disorder.
PARADIGM - Established conceptual context for theories and explanations.
PARASUICIDE - Non-fatal self-injurious behavior; Non-fatal act of self-harm; a suicide gesture.
PARTIAL SUICIDE - Non-fatal self-destructive act, e.g., self-mutilation.
PASSIVE EUTHANASIA - Withholding/ending care that could extend life of a dying person.
PATHOLOGICAL BEREAVEMENT - Chronic, debilitating grief process.
PATHOLOGIZE - View a behavior or condition as a disease.
PATIENT RIGHTS - Valid expectations of providers by those they serve.
PEER-LED GROUP - Support group led by a volunteer suicide survivor.
PEER SUPPORT - Programs to build relationships for at-risk youth (CDC).
PENACIDE - Killing of pain; completion of suicide to end intense pain.
PERMISSION TO GRIEVE - Seeking of recognition of loss by others by bereaved.
PERTURBATION - Increased emotional disturbance (Shneidman).
PHYSICAL LOSS - Loss of something tangible (e.g., limb, pet).
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS - Severe emotional reaction to a traumatic event.
POSTVENTION - Intervention after a suicide to aid the survivors.
POTENTIATING RISK FACTOR - Lethal means, family history, stress, illness, etc.
POTENTIATOR - Factor that amplifies another factor and combined effect is greater than each alone.
PREDISPOSING RISK FACTOR - Condition when coupled with other risk may lead to suicide.
PRE-INTERVENTION - See Primary Prevention.
PREMORBID - Prior to onset or presence of disease or disorder.
PREVENTABILITY - Survivor's perception of the avoidability of the loss.
PRIMARY LOSS - The loss of a loved one to death.
PRIMARY PREVENTION - Attempt to reduce occurence of a problem.
PROCESSING ANGER - Acknowleging anger and identifying the underlying feelings.
PRODROMAL CLUES - Individual behavioral signs of suicidality.
PROFESSIONALLY-LED GROUP - Support group led by a clinician (e.g., therapist).
PROGNOSIS - Predicted course and outcome of a disease in an individual.
PROLACTIN (PRL) RESPONSE - Neurochemical process linked to suicide.
PROVIDER - Clinician or organization offering health care services.
PROXIMAL RISK FACTOR - See Potentiating Risk Factor.
PSEUDOCIDE - Pseudo-suicide; faked suicide.
PSYCHACHE - Severe psychological pain (Shneidman).
PSYCHIC HOMICIDE - Suicide by children of abusive or hostile parents.
PSYCHIC NUMBING - Shut-down emotionally; survivor reaction (Raphael).
PSYCHIC SUICIDE - Willing oneself to die without any physical action.
PSYCHOBIOLOGY - Study of the biochemical basis of behavior.
PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL MODEL - Suicide caused by neural dysfunction and poor impulse control.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY - Post-death search for cause of suicide.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DEATH - Individual's definition of self as dead (Kalish).
PSYCHOLOGICAL PAIN - Pain caused by loss, depression, and other emotional trauma.
PSYCHOLOGICAL POST-MORTEM - Post-death search for treatment errors.
PSYCHOTROPIC DRUG - Medication affecting emotional functioning.
QUALITY OF LIFE - Relative state of individual well-being/functioning.
RATIONAL SUICIDE - Presumption of reasonable choice by the terminally ill.
REACTIVE DEPRESSION - Identified as linked to a particular situation.
RECEPTOR - Target of a neurotransmitter.
RECONSTRUCTION - Bereaved's recasting of past events or relationships.
RECOVERY GUILT - Discomfort with feelings of happiness after loss.
RELATIVE RISK - Ratio of at-risk to non-risk individuals in a group.
REPEATER - Individual with history of suicide attempts.
RESPONDENT SUICIDE - Suicide survivor suicide attributed to "joining" the initial victim.
RESCUE - Successful intervention in a suicide attempt.
RESCUE FANTASY - Belief that some suicidal individuals expect to be saved.
REVENGE SUICIDE - See Message of Anger.
RIGHT TO DIE - Individual self-determination of when and how to die.
RIGHT TO SUICIDE - View that an individual may rationally choose to end their life.
RISK - Exposure or vulnerability to harm, disease, or death.
RISK FACTOR - Attribute associated with the likelihood of suicide.
RISK MANAGEMENT - Effort to lessen exposure to liability or adverse outcome.
RISK REDUCTION - Individual behavior change to lessen risk/exposure.
ROLE LOSS - Personal identification (e.g., spouse) lost due to death.
SAMARITANS, THE - International volunteer suicide crisis intervention group.
SCREENING - Clinical procedure for identifying suicide risk.
SEASONALITY - Refers to seasonal variations in suicide rates.
SECONDARY LOSS - Consequence of loss of loved one, e.g., a friendship.
SECONDARY PREVENTION - Attempt to lessen the severity of a problem.
SECONDARY VICTIMIZATION - Negative experience of survivors with media, police, etc.
SECRET GRIEF - See Hidden Grief.
SELECTIVE INTERVENTION - Preventative measures directed at group showing risk factors.
SELECTIVE SEROTONIN REUPTAKE INHIBITOR (SSRI) - Class of antidepressants (e.g., Paxil).
SELF-DELIVERANCE - "Rational" suicide for a "good" reason.
SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR - Activities with high physical risk.
SELF-MEDICATE - Use alcohol, drugs, other substances to cope with depression, grief or pain.
SEROTONIN - Neurotransmitter that inhibits self-destructive behavior.
SEROTONIN-SPECIFIC AGENT - New class of antidepressant drugs.
SHADOW GRIEF - Unresolved "background" grief associated with perinatal loss.
SHNEIDMAN, EDWIN - Author/editor of several seminal texts on suicide and founder of American Association of Suicidology (AAS) in 1968.
SILENT SUICIDE - Self-starvation and medical noncompliance by the aged.
SITUATIONAL CLUES - Loss, other major life event linked with suicide risk.
SLIPPERY SLOPE - Potential adverse outcome of a moral or legal change.
SLOW SUICIDE - Prolonged pattern of self-abusive, harmful behavior.
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY - Suicide is influenced by culture and social structure.
SOCIAL DEATH - Avoidance of terminally ill or dying by friends/relatives.
SPIRITUALITY - Personal search for meaning after loss.
SPIRITUAL ABUSE - Allegation by a clergyperson that suicide victim is damned.
STAGES OF GRIEF - Concept of distinct phases of grieving (Kubler-Ross)
STRESSOR - A factor precipitating or driving a behavior or outcome.
SUBINTENTIONAL - Individual indirectly/unconciously causes her/his death.
SUFFERING - State of extreme anguish and discomfort caused by pain or loss.
SUICIDAL - In acute crisis with ideation, definite tendencies, or an attempt.
SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR - Suicide gestures, attempts, and completions.
SUICIDAL IDEATION - Thoughts about completing suicide.
SUICIDAL INDIVIDUAL - One manifesting suicidal behavior or intent.
SUICIDAL INTENT - Individual degree of risk of acting at a particular time.
SUICIDE LIABILITY - Risk was seen, assessed, documented, and negligently treated.
SUICIDAL THREAT - Statement indicating that suicide is being considered.
SUICIDALITY - Individual's level of danger to her/himself (Shneidman).
SUICIDE - A transient disease caused by psychological stress and pain.
SUICIDE - Verb: to complete suicide (e.g., "My son suicided").
SUICIDE ATTEMPT - Failed attempt to complete suicide.
SUICIDE-BY-COP - Provoking a police officer to shoot in self-defense.
SUICIDE CAREER - Individual pattern of multiple suicide attempts.
SUICIDE CLUSTER - See Suicide Contagion.
SUICIDE COMPLETER - Individual who has died of suicide.
SUICIDE CONTAGION - Series of consecutive suicides.
SUICIDE GESTURE - An action of self-harm indicating suicidal intent.
SUICIDE INCIDENCE- Number of cases in a given time in a given area.
TARASOFF RULE - Therapists must disclose client's threat to harm others.
TERMINAL - Last phase of a fatal illness or condition.
TERMINALLY ILL - Medical prognosis of death in six months or less.
TERTIARY PREVENTION - Attempt to lessen long-term effects of a problem.
THANATOLOGY - Study of death, dying, bereavement, and grief.
TO LIVE AGAIN - Support group for those who lost spouses or partners.
TRAUMA - Threatening event causing feelings of fear, helplessnes, and horror (DSM-IV).
TRAUMATIC LOSS - Death that is sudden, unexpected, preventable and/or of a child.
TRAUMATIC SHOCK - Psychological state after an abnormal experience.
TRIGGER - Factor which initiates and aggravates behavior or response.
TRYPTOPHAN HYDROXYLASE (TPH) - Enzyme associated with Serotonin; a marker.
TUNNEL VISION - View that life=pain vs. death=no pain; see Constriction.
UNDERLYING ILLNESS - Condition causing secondary manifestation of symptoms.
UNDER-REPORTING - Incidence of suicides not recorded as such.
UNETHICAL - Action inconsistent with adopted ethical code or values.
UNEXPECTED LOSS SYNDROME - Abnormal grief reaction associated with unexpected loss.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS - Personal concerns to be resolved before death.
UNIVERSAL INTERVENTION - Preventative measures directed at an entire population.
UNNATURAL DEATH - Tragic, sudden, unexpected loss; loss of a child.
UNRESOLVED GRIEF - Disrupted grieving process (e.g., delayed grief).
VALIDATION - Learning from experience of other survivors that "I'm not crazy."
VERACITY - Ethical duty to not deceive others.
VERBAL CLUES - Spoken references to suicidal intentions.
VICTIM - One harmed by circumstances beyond their control.
VIGILANCE - Grief state involving awareness of loss without constant focus (Smith).
VIOLENT MEANS - Suicide by firearms, hanging, slashing, falls.
WARNING SIGN - Overt indicator of suicidal risk of an individual.
WHAT-IFFING GUILT - Survivor obsession with "What if...?" (Wrobleski).
WITHDRAWN BEHAVIOR - Apathetic and unresponsive emotional state.
WORK OF GRIEF - Release from ties to deceased (Freud).
WORKING THROUGH GRIEF - Purposeful individual effort to resolve personal grief.
WRONGFUL DEATH - Death caused by negligence or other wrongful act.
YEARS OF POTENTIAL LIFE LOST - Period from age at death to age 65.
YOUTH SUICIDE - Occurrence of suicide among teens and pre-teens.
AUTHOR: Tony Salvatore, "Written in memory of Paul A. Salvatore, 1968-1999." Email: tspdf@juno.com, visit: The Suicide Paradigm
Edited For Our Purposes
