Suicide Research

This volume of the Annals contains the proceedings of a workshop on suicide research sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Suicide Foundation.The workshop presented the latest research in suicide from preclinical, clinical neuroscience, and treatment perspectives.The preclinical section provides information on new methodologies in basic research that have promise for uncovering mechanisms that may underlie suicide.The clinical neuroscience section discusses recent research studies in adult suicide on the neurobiological substrates of suicide risk, taking advantage of powerful methods available in molecular biology and modern neuroscience.The treatment section addresses challenges involved in the development of treatments that specifically reduce suicide risk and discusses the evidence for efficacy of current pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments in preventing adult suicide.Thus, this volume describes the most promising suicide research findings over the last decade since publication of a previous comprehensive volume on suicide research.' HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDAttitudes toward acts of self-destruction and personal sacrifice are rooted in theology and classical Greek and Roman philosophy.The views in these ancient references are embedded in the fundamental conceptualization of human relationships to others and to God.In these accounts of self-destruction and human sacrifice, themes of personal responsibility, morality, and prohibition are portrayed.The idea of suicide did not always have the same meaning that it has in contemporary Western society.