Suicide is a Public Health problem. It is estimated that one person in the world commits suicide every 40 seconds. Each suicide involves a number of suicide attempts that can range between 20 and 40. Lives are lost that are not replaceable, people and families are destroyed. A trail of destruction remains in the lives of those who leave and in the minds of those who stay. The numbers are high. The costs are high at all levels: individual, social, economic. It is a true epidemic and affects all social groups and age groups. Suicide has been viewed over time in different ways at different periods in history. In Antiquity it was tolerated; in the Middle Ages prohibited; In the Renaissance, concepts from Classical Antiquity were recovered, and in the Enlightenment the discussion was fully opened. The 19th and 20th centuries brought a new attitude that promotes the defense of life, rejecting suicide and seeking to understand it, just as in the 21st century. Studies on suicide reached greater protagonism after the work of Durkheim (1897), and developed significantly in the 20th century. Among the various techniques, the “Psychological Autopsy Technique” stands out, inaugurated by Edwin Scneidman (1971).
speakers
José Henrique Santos
Faculty of Medicine, University of Extremadura; Master in “Mental Health Policy and Services” from the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Lisbon (FCM)/ World Health Organization (WHO); Clinical Psychologist and Forensic Psychology Coordinator at Hospital Beatriz Ângelo; Member of the Working Group of the National Suicide Prevention Plan and the National Committee of Experts of the National Suicide Prevention Plan Project by the National Directorate of the Mental Health Program of the General Directorate of Health