Discourse or content analysis of a diary is employed to evaluate the ideation and attitude of a middle-aged female committer. Starting with a rational basis for establishing the suicidal act, assessment of the journal content suggests the writer may have responded to a variety of socio-psychological conditions and emotions during the planned course of action leading to her death.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BreedW.The Suicide Process, Fourth International Conference for Suicide Prevention: Proceedings, FarberowN. L. (ed.), Los Angeles, California, pp. 286–291, 1968.
2.
DurkheimE.Suicide: A Study in Sociology, SpauldingJ.A.MuellerJ.H. (trans.), and CatlinG. E. G. (ed.), The Free Press, New York, 1951 [1897]
3.
HenryA. F.ShortJ. F.Jr.Suicide and Homicide, The Free Press, New York, 1954.
4.
GibbsJ. P.MartinW. T.A Theory of Status Integration and Its Relationship to Suicide, American Sociological Review, 23, pp. 140–147, 1958.
5.
GibbsJ. P.MartinW. T.Status Integration and Suicide: A Sociological Study, University of Oregon Press, Eugene, Oregon, 1964.
6.
FarberM.Theory of Suicide, Funk and Wagnall, New York, 1968.
7.
HenslinJ. M.Guilt and Guilt Neutralization: Response and Adjustment to Suicide, in Deviance and Respectability, DouglasJ. D. (ed.), Basic Books, New York, pp. 192–228, 1970.
8.
MestrovicS.GlassnerB.A Durkheimian Hypothesis on Stress, Social Science Medicine, 17, pp. 1315–1327, 1983.
9.
StackS.Celebrities and Suicide: A Taxonomy and Analysis, 1948–1983, American Sociological Review, 52, pp. 401–412, 1987.
10.
BattinM. P.Ethnical Issues in Suicide, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1982.
11.
MarisR. W.Rational Suicide: An Improverished Self-transformation, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 12, pp. 4–16, 1982.
12.
PeckD. L.The Last Moments of Life: Learning to Cope, Deviant Behavior, 4, pp. 313–332, 1983.
13.
MulkayM.The Word and the World: Explorations in the Form of Sociological Analysis, George Allen and Unwin, London, England, 1985.
14.
BernsteinM.The Communication of Suicidal Intent by Completed Suicides, Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 9, pp. 175–182, 1979.
15.
JacobsJ.A Phenomenological Study of Suicide Notes, Social Problems, 15, pp. 60–72, 1967.
16.
ShneidmanE. S.FarberowN. L.A Socio-psyetiological Investigation of Suicide, in Perspectives in Personality Research, DavidJ. P.BrengelmanJ. C. (eds.), Springer Publishing Company, New York, 1960.
17.
ShneidmanE. S.FarberowN. L.Suicide Notes, in In Their Own Behalf: Voices From the Margin, McCaghyC. H.SkipperJ. K.Jr.LeftonM. (eds.), Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, pp. 200–203, 1968.
18.
GilbertG. N.MulkayM.Opening Pandora's Box: A Sociological Analysis of Scientists' Discourse, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1984.
19.
GierynT. F.Boundary-work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists, American Sociological Review, 48, pp. 781–795, 1985.
20.
GierynT. F.Science Pure and Applied, or: How the Autonomy and Patronage of American Scientists Become a Matter of National Policy, Quarterly Journal of Ideology, 11, pp. 1–16, 1987.
21.
ChoronJ.Suicide, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1972.
22.
BaldwinJ. D.Mead's Solution to the Problem of Agency, Sociological Inquiry, 58, pp. 139–162, 1988.
23.
StotlandE.The Psychology of Hope; An Intergration of Experimental, Clinical and Social Approaches, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1969.
24.
ReynoldsD. K.FarberowN. L.Suicide: Inside and Out, University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 1976.
