Conduita suicidară: patternuri şi determinanţi socioculturali

Suicidal behavior has never been studied as much as in the last decades. A lot of interest has been – and is being – paid by individuals, organizations, public institutions and governments, trying to understand it and to prevent the only preventable death that we know. However, the scientific community and field workers from different countries are still far from having a common understanding of the causes, determinants, social and cultural patterns of the suicidal behavior. Different studies and researches present different results, focuses, variables and indicators. Is the suicidal behavior strongly connected to (or even a mark or a proof of) mental health issues? Or with alcoholism, religious denomination, gender, age, residence, marital status, previous attempt, family history etc.? The answer is anything but simple, decisive or universally accepted. This article is aiming to present the most common patterns, as well as the social and cultural determinants that have been used to explain the suicidal behavior, trying to emphasize the fact that suicide has rather a social explanation and needs to have a local approach.