The Varieties of Suicidal Experience: A New Theory of Suicidal Violence

Thomas Joiner

Published by New York University Press 2024

The Varieties of Suicidal Experience

A New Theory of Suicidal Violence

Thomas Joiner

In the series Psychoanalytic Crossroads

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479823505.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

PROSE Award Finalist for Psychology and Applied Social Work

Argues that a range of behaviors such as murder-suicide, terrorism, and mass shootings are better understood as motivated by suicidal impulses than by homicidal ones

Mass shooters often display behaviors that strongly mirror the warning signs for suicide: lives led in isolation, intense personal suffering, disaffection, and struggle. Letters detailing why they did what they did paint pictures of intense misery and loneliness. As this book makes clear, private despair sometimes leads to social violence.

In this groundbreaking work, Thomas Joiner offers a unified theory of suicide, making the case that many acts that appear homicidal are best understood primarily as suicidal. We must recognize that there are several forms of suicidal violence, some of which masquerade as other types of acts, including terrorism and murder. These include suicide-by-cop, suicide terrorism, murder-suicide, and running amok. Though there are obvious differences among these acts, Joiner argues that framing them as stemming from a common ideology of suicide is a crucial step in preventing these atrocities.

By recognizing the desire to die—not to kill—as being at the heart of many of the acts of those who choose to kill their partner, shoot up their school, or terrorize their community, we can offer more effective measures of intervention. At a time when our nation is scrambling for solutions in the fight to end gun violence, this book presents a crucial component in the detection and treatment of unwell individuals.

Author / Editor information

Joiner Thomas :

Thomas Joiner is The Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Florida State University and author of Why People Die By Suicide.Thomas Joiner is The Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Florida State University and author of Why People Die By Suicide.

Reviews

M. David Rudd, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and President Emeritus, University of Memphis:
Joiner builds on what is arguably history’s most scientifically tested, supported and impactful theory addressing suicidality, the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. ITS has not only moved an entire field forward but literally reshaped it. Joiner's application across vexing problems like murder-suicide, suicide by cop, suicide terrorism, and physician-assisted suicide is impressive, incisive, and practically accessible. Not only do his clarity and precision improve our understanding of these troubling problems, but he crafts an explanatory narrative that allows us to work to coherently identify strategies, targeted interventions, and policies that offer hope of progress to reduce the tragedy of suicide and assuage the suffering of those affected. Once again, Joiner takes on some of the greatest challenges society faces today. The end result is that he helps us more accurately understand why these tragic things happen and opens the door for solutions.

David A. Jobes, Director of the Suicide Prevention Laboratory, The Catholic University of America, Washington DC:
In The Varieties of Suicidal Experience Joiner manifestly displays his extraordinary scholarly gifts. . . . He shrewdly makes his points with beautifully crafted—and accessible—language brimming with compelling case examples that vividly illustrate his arguments. No one in the field of suicidology today thinks, reflects on, explores, and writes about the topic of suicide quite like Thomas Joiner. This extraordinary new book explores suicidal violence, in all its forms, displaying an intellectual acumen and the sage wisdom of one of the field’s most astute thinkers and singular scholars.

Rheeda Walker, Author of The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health:
A must read for anyone who desires to understand the complex web of factors that contribute to violent behavior. For decades, scholars have argued that violence cannot be predicted. In The Varieties of Suicidal Experience, however. Joiner does just that -- by building on his decades of expertise and groundbreaking theory of suicide.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction: Suicidal Violence as a Misunderstood and Recalcitrant Plague Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Suicide: The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
2 Perverted Virtues Transform Suicide into Murder-Suicide and Spree Killing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
3 Killing Oneself without Killing Oneself: Suicide-by- Cop and Related Phenomena Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
4 Suicide Terrorism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
5 Is Physician-Assisted Suicide Suicide? Is Death Row Volunteering? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Conclusion: How to Stop a Plague Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: February 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781479823505