Listy pożegnalne niedoszłych samobójców. Analiza treści
Suicide Notes Left by Persons Attempting Suicide. A Content Analysis

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents two issues. First it offers an analysis of the content of suicide notes left by people who attempted to take their lives. Their authors were hospitalized in The Toxicology Clinic of The Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź after their suicidal intoxication, usually with drugs. Using the qualitative analysis technique, we describe the content of the letters, distinguishing various categories of the content of personal documents, such as: addressees of the letters; authors’ interpretations of the reasons for their suicidal behaviors; messages addressed to relatives; and self-assessment of their suicidal acts. We also describe the motives for writing the letters and their form. We next discuss the problem of the reliability of such documents as a method for conducting in suicidological research. Moreover, we indicate different theoretical perspectives in suicidology concerning the usefulness of suicide notes in the analysis of suicides. Secondly, the text refers to the most fundamental social factors underlying suicidal behaviors, which factors are based on three modern sociological perspectives of suicidal behavior analysis (the model of social integration, the model of modernization, the model of cultural norms, values and attitudes).

• Details
• Contents