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: [email protected], visit: The Suicide Paradigm
Edited For Our Purposes