ABSTRACT
The history of suicide reveals that it has been viewed with varying attitudes by society. Some primitive and some recent cultures have accepted and approved of suicide. Suicide falls directly in the middle of a taboo area and thus encounters all the blind prejudices and resistances which encrust proscribed topics. The relationships between death and suicide would appear obvious, but turn out to be, on examination, somewhat complicated. Death is reified and reacted to in many ways. A recent Radcliffe dissertation has helpfully outlined some attitudes on the meaning of death. A recent study on suicide in patients with malignant neoplasms revealed additional relationships between suicide and death. Harold Hildreth, of the United States Public Health Service, has suggested that researches or investigations in taboo areas often have three common characteristics. This chapter grows from experiences of a larger study, supported by USPHS Mental Health Project Grant OM-128 from the National Institute of Mental Health.
