"To be, or not to be: that is the question"

"There is but one truly serious question, and that is suicide."
The opening words to Albert Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus."

Suicidal ideation, the medical term for thoughts about suicide, means wanting to take one's own life or thinking about suicide without actually making plans to commit suicide. However, the term is often used more generally to refer to having the intent to commit suicide, including planning how it will be done. Suicidal ideation includes all thoughts of suicide, both when the thoughts include a plan to commit suicide and when they do not include a plan; it is one of the symptoms of both major depression and bipolar depression. Suicidal ideation is more common than completed suicide. Most persons who commit suicide have a psychiatric disorder at the time of death. The majority of patients with suicidal ideation do not ultimately commit suicide.

The overall suicide rate is 11.2 per 100,000 persons, ranking suicide as the ninth leading cause of death. In the United States alone, someone dies by suicide once every 17 minutes and suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 15 and 24.

Suicide is responsible for almost half of all violent deaths, totaling almost one million fatalities every year. Worldwide, more people die from suicide than from all homicides and wars combined. In most European countries, the number of suicides each year is larger than the number of traffic deaths. Attempted suicides, resulting in injury, hospitalization, and/or emotional and mental trauma, amount to 10 to 20 times the number of successful suicides.

Causes of suicidal behavior include: Poverty, unemployment, loss of loved ones, arguments, breakdown in relationships and legal or work-related problems. A family history of suicide, as well as alcohol and drug abuse, childhood abuse, social isolation and some mental disorders including depression and schizophrenia, also play a central role in a large number of suicides. Physical illness and disabling pain increases suicide risks."

There is no "typical suicidal person." However, several behaviors that can indicate that a person is seriously considering suicide include:
*Drastic change in behavior, often taking unnecessary risks as if they didn't care what happened
*Increased use of alcohol and drugs
*Loss of interest in work, school, or hobbies and withdrawal from social activities, friends, and family
*Signs of preparing for death-making funeral arrangements or giving away prized possessions
*Talk about committing suicide and preoccupation with death and dying
*Trouble eating or sleeping and noticeable change in personal appearance

Celebrity suicides:
* Hart Crane-poet 1932-suicide by drowning. On a steamship, he bid his fellow passengers farewell and jumped overboard.
* Joseph Goebbels-Nazi politician 1945-with his wife, poisoned their five children, and then committed suicide at Hitler's Berlin bunker.
* Jim Jones-leader of a religious cult known as the Peoples Temple 1978-killed himself after watching more than 900 of his followers die from the ingestion of Kool-Aid laced with cyanide.
* Nero-Roman emperor-68 AD-suicide by stabbing himself with a sword.
* Sylvia Plath-poet-1963-suicide by inhaling gas from her oven.
* Socrates-philosopher-399 BC-required to drink hemlock to end his life after being found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens.
* Vincent van Gogh-painter-1890-shot himself; he died two days later.
* Virginia Woolf-writer-1941-committed suicide by drowning.

Medications that can have been reported to trigger suicidal ideation include: Abilify, Ambien, Amoxapine, Anafranil, Avelox, Aventyl, Avonex, Azilect, Campral, Celexa, Celontin, Chantix, Clomid, cocaine, Cymbalta, Depakote, Desyrel, Diamox, Dilantin, Ecstacy, Effexor, Elavil, Eldepryl, Eskalith, Fuzeon, Gabitril, Geodon, Intron, Invirase, Isordil, Keppra, Lamictal, Lariam, Lexapro, Librium, Ludiomil, Luvox, Lyrica, marihuana, Marplan, Meridia, Mysoline, Namenda, Nardil, Neurontin, Pamelor, Parnate, Paxil, Pertofrane, phenobarbital, Prialt, Prozac, Rebetron, Remeron, Remicade, Reminyl, Requip, Risperdal, Seroquel, Serzone, Sinequan, Sonata, Strattera, Sustiva, Symmetrel, Tegretol, Thalidomide, Tofranil, Topamax, Trileptal, Ultracet, Ultram, Wellbutrin, Xyrem, Zagam, Zanaflex, Zarontin, Zelnorm, Zoloft, Zonegran, Zyban, Zyprexa, among others