Understanding Suicide's Allure

This book explains why suicide can be alluring to a person aiming to stop his or her traumatic pain-whether its source is bullying, sexual assault, war combat, or other PTSD-invoking events-and details approaches that can prevent suicide.
Suicide has been a taboo topic in Western culture. The mere mention of suicide sparks reactive responses that include medical, moral, spiritual, and religious debates. As a result, the authors open an important discussion here, offering an honest and non-judgmental examination of the many aspects involved in the nature of suicide, explaining that above all, people need to learn how to support those struggling with suicidal thoughts or to intercept their own suicidal thinking. The book also includes an extensive review and evaluation of the many available mental health treatments.
Special consideration is given to military suicides. U.S. soldier suicides exceed one per day and continue to rise in all military branches, while veteran suicide rates are even higher, averaging 17 per day. Communities, families, veterans, and service members are in need of tools and insights for coping with, navigating, and exposing the suicidal attitudes affecting many current and former members of the military.

Stanley Krippner, PhD, is a member of the American Association of Suicidology and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.
Linda Riebel, PhD, is on the faculty of Saybrook University and conducted a psychotherapy practice in San Francisco and Berkeley for 25 years, specializing in eating disorders, anxiety, and depression.
Debbie Joffe Ellis, PhD, is on the adjunct faculty at Columbia University Teachers College.
Daryl S. Paulson, PhD, is a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, a counselor specializing in trauma-associated disorders, and president/CEO of BioScience Laboratories, Inc.

Foreword
Acknowledgments
To the Reader
When the Crisis Is Global: Coronavirus and PTSD
Section I The Allure of Suicide
Chapter 1 Who Is Attracted by the Allure of Suicide?
Chapter 2 Suicide Is Complicated
Chapter 3 The Pioneer of Suicidology and What He Found
Chapter 4 Suicide among Minorities
Chapter 5 The Most Beautiful Alluring Demon I Have Ever Known
Those Who Survived: William Styron
Chapter 6 Dreams, Nightmares, and Suicide
Chapter 7 Mental Illness and Suicide
Chapter 8 Teenage Suicides
Chapter 9 Physician-Assisted Suicide
Those Who Survived: Colin Wilson
Section II Suicide in the Military
Chapter 10 Daryl Paulson's Story
Chapter 11 Hard-Earned Insights from Combat Experience
Chapter 12 The Parking Lot Suicides
Chapter 13 An Integrative Treatment of PTSD
Those Who Survived: Jimmy Stewart
Section III Sexual Assault and Suicide
Chapter 14 Two Cases of Sexual Assault
Chapter 15 Sexual Assault Can Lead to Suicide
Chapter 16 Sexual Assault in Churches and Faith Groups
Chapter 17 Sexual Assault in the Military
Section IV Bullying
Chapter 18 How Bruno Was Bullied to Death
Chapter 19 Bullying and the Vulnerable
Chapter 20 Bullies, Victims, and Bystanders
Chapter 21 Preventing Bullying
Section V Depression, Anxiety, and PTSD
Chapter 22 The Three Dangers
Chapter 23 Treating Depression
Chapter 24 Deconstructing Anxiety: A New Way of Dealing with Suicidality
Chapter 25 Evaluating Treatments for PTSD
Those Who Survived: Bobby Grey
Section VI Other Groups at Risk
Chapter 26 Suicide on the Land: The Farmer's Dilemma
Chapter 27 Spirit Sickness and Soul Loss
Chapter 28 Suicide among Indigenous Peoples
Chapter 29 Children, the Elderly, and the Sleep-Deprived
Section VII How Professionals Understand Suicide
Chapter 30 Two Views of Suicide from Evolutionary Psychology
Chapter 31 Suicide as a Public Health Issue
Chapter 32 The Archetypes of Suicide
Chapter 33 Why Mythology Is Personal
Chapter 34 The Psychophysiology of Suicide
Chapter 35 The Rational Emotive Approach to Suicidal Thoughts
Chapter 36 Beyond the Personal Self: Transpersonal Models
Chapter 37 Systems Approaches to Understanding Suicide
Those Who Survived: Marla
Section VIII Prevention
Chapter 38 Preventing Suicide
Chapter 39 REBT and Suicide Prevention
Chapter 40 Resilience Training and Suicide Prevention: Did It Work?
Chapter 41 Skills for Self-Regulation
Chapter 42 Building a Better Teenage Brain
Chapter 43 Preventing Suicide behind Bars
Chapter 44 Spirituality as a Path away from Suicide
Those Who Survived: The Sister Who Lived
Section IX Healing
Chapter 45 Achieving Self-Empowerment
Chapter 46 Deal with PTSD Nightmares First
Chapter 47 Nightmare Dream Revision and Lucid Dreaming
Chapter 48 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Chapter 49 Narrative Exposure Therapy
Chapter 50 Time Perspective Therapy
Chapter 51 How TPT Saved Jamie from PTSD
Chapter 52 Nature's Gift
Chapter 53 Psychedelics Old and New
Chapter 54 Vine of the Spirits
Those Who Survived: Saved by the Vine
Section X Turning the Tide
Chapter 55 Turning the Tide
Index