ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the issue of adolescent suicide and attempted suicide from the point of view of what is going on in the minds of young people who deliberately harm themselves. Many professionals who assess suicides in accident and emergency departments have observed institutional defences against the proper management of attempted suicides as though reflecting a modern day equivalent of historical attitudes and some departments can be very harsh to those who harm themselves. The attempted suicide can be treated with contempt and sometimes outright cruelty which goes far beyond the understandable irritation of busy staff dealing with someone who is responsible for their own condition. Suicide – the enactment of violence – was felt as an escape from an intolerable situation and the ultimate act of hatred against the object and the punishment for doing so at the same time.
