Numerous studies have been undertaken in an attempt to arrive at a closer understanding of the phenomenon of suicide and to find some effective means of preventing it. Most of the literature presents statistics which have been interpreted from a psychologic, sociologic, and cultural point of view in an effort to explain why people try to commit suicide. To my mind, however, the important question is not why someone attempts suicide. Rather, I am concerned with the clinical picture of a suicidal person—what goes on in his mind, what psychobiologic process is it that is able to overpower the most vital protective forces of life, the instinct of self-preservation and the fear of death.
Objective and Method
What is it that precipitates such a complete and paradoxical change in basic human behavior? This study tried to find the answers. Although we used psychiatric