ABSTRACT
Suicide remains an all too common response to intolerable psychological and physical suffering in the elderly. Havens described this multidetermined process as “the final common pathway of diverse circumstances, of an interdependent network rather than an isolated cause, a knot of circumstances tightening around a single time and place”(1). No other segment of the population epitomizes this description more clearly than the elderly. It is the objective of this chapter to highlight the high rates, the interdependent network of physical, psychiatric, and personality dimensions that contribute to late-life suicide, as well as potential assessment and intervention strategies, particularly in primary care practices.
