Jobes, D. A., & Nelson, K. N. (2006). Shneidman's Contributions to the Understanding of Suicidal Thinking. In T. E. Ellis (Ed.), Cognition and suicide: Theory, research, and therapy (pp. 29-49). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/11377-002
In this chapter, we endeavor to present a balanced, thoughtful, and contextualized picture of Shneidman's contributions to our understanding of suicidal thinking, with a particular emphasis oh his contributions that are most specific to cognition. At times we may take certain liberties when interpreting some of this work, as we endeavor to attend to the focus of the current text (i.e., cognition and suicide). For example, this chapter began with the story of a young Shneidman wandering through the vault of the coroner's office considering the potential importance of researching suicide notes. As noted, this fateful spark of a research idea ignited an entire field of study and spurred a larger movement in society--that we should earnestly, purposefully, and methodically endeavor to prevent the tragedy of suicide. Beyond this aspect, however, the importance of the Shneidman and Farberow studies of suicide notes cannot be overstated. For what are suicide notes if not the final psychological considerations, musings, feelings, requests, communications, thoughts--cognitions--of the suicidal person? As a written testament to an individual's tragic suicidal end, the study of suicide notes historically marked a significant beginning for the study of suicide as a larger field and, as we shall see, it also fundamentally shaped Shneidman's thinking and views on the topic of suicide. To that end, we explore some of Shneidman's key theoretical, empirical, and clinical contributions to historic as well as contemporary suicidology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)