ABSTRACT
Suicide notes allow us to learn about a person, to advance the nomothetic and idiographic approaches in science, and to aid in the aims of science in general—understanding, prediction, and control. The idiographic or case study approach allows us to do the main business of psychology: the intensive study of the human person, and thus, the deceased person. Case study, through personal documents, biography, and so on, allows us to understand the suicidal mind better. A common criticism is that documents, such as suicide notes, letters, and case histories, are open to different beliefs or theories. Many certifiers lack explicit understanding of suicide and clear distinct criteria for assessing suicidal intent. Each year death certificates are filled out by thousands of different certifiers. On each death certificate the manner of death must be indicated as either "natural," "accident," "suicide," "homicide," or "could not be determined." Research generates the accepted knowledge in a particular scientific community, herein suicidology.
