THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PHYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPY TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF SUICIDE

Abstract

The current study sheds light on the theme of suicide, which is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, with deep implications, it is also very present in society and it is considered a public health problem. Suicide is a theme that involves the influence of countless factors and it can be approached from different points of view. Among the multiple strategies to approach suicide, the psychological autopsy appears as a very useful tool to help in the understanding of this phenomenon. The psychological autopsy is a type of retrospective evaluation which helps in gathering information about the suicide, including the victim’s emotional, state prior to the decease, as well as clarifies the intention and the role of the deceased in his own death. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to discuss the contributions of psychological autopsy to the understanding of suicide. This way, the specific objectives were determined as follows: to verify how the psychological autopsy can favor the identification of risk factors for the suicidal behavior; to verify how the psychological autopsy can favor the identification of factors which might act as protection against the suicidal behavior; and, finally, to verify how, and through which tools, the process of psychological autopsy is conducted. A bibliographical research based on studies that used different tools to lead the process of psychological autopsy about suicide cases was performed in order to achieve the objectives. The achieved results show the importance of the clinical experience of the psychological autopsy investigator when conducting the process and also the need of adequate training, as well as an acquaintance with the subject. It was also noticed that the psychological autopsy is an evaluation tool that allows a clinical listening of the suicide survivors.