Edwin Shneidman con Maurizio Pompili insignito con lo Shneidman Award

Edwin S. Shneidman (May 13, 1918 – May 15, 2009) was an American

clinical psychologist Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...

, suicidologist and thanatologist. Together with

Norman Farberow Norman Louis Farberow (February 12, 1918 – September 10, 2015) was an American psychologist, and one of the founding fathers of modern suicidology. He was among the three founders in 1958 of the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center, which bec ...

and Robert Litman, in 1958, he founded the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center where the men were instrumental in researching suicide and developing a crisis center and treatments to prevent deaths. In 1968, Shneidman founded the

American Association of Suicidology The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which advocates for suicide prevention. It was established in 1968 by Edwin S. Shneidman, who has been called "a pioneer in suicide preven ...

and the principal United States journal for suicide studies, ''

Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior ''Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published six times per year by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association of Suicidology. The journal was established in 1971 by Edwin S. Shneidman. Its c ...

''. In 1970, he became Professor of Thanatology at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, where he taught for decades. He published 20 books on suicide and its prevention.

Early life and education

Shneidman was born in

York, Pennsylvania York is a city in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located in South Central Pennsylvania, the city's population was 44,800 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in ...

in 1918 to

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

. His father was a merchant with a department store. As a child, Shneidman attended local public schools. He went to the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

(UCLA) for undergraduate and graduate work, earning a master's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

in 1940. His education was interrupted by World War II, and he served in the Army. Afterward, Shneidman returned to graduate school, earning a doctorate in

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC). As an intern, he studied

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

, then thought to be environmentally caused, at the

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

hospital in Brentwood. He was an atheist.

Career

In the late 1940s, Shneidman became interested in the problem and mystery of

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

while working at the Veterans Hospital in Brentwood. Becoming involved in trying to understand one case, he conducted much research into suicide notes and motivations. He formulated many terms to use in such study: as his researcher colleague

wrote of him: "He is one of the brightest, sharpest, most intellectually gifted persons I have ever known," and later spoke of Shneidman's ability to coin new terms, such as

suicidology Suicidology is the scientific study of suicidal behaviour, the causes of suicidalness and suicide prevention. Every year, about one million people die by suicide, which is a mortality rate of sixteen per 100,000 or one death every forty seconds. ...

psychological autopsy Psychological autopsy in suicidology (or also psychiatric autopsy) is a systematic procedure for evaluating suicidal intention in equivocal cases. It was invented by American psychologists Norman Farberow and Edwin S. Shneidman during their time ...

, psychache, and

pseudocide A faked death, also called a staged death, is the act of an individual purposely deceiving other people into believing that the individual is dead, when the person is, in fact, still alive. The faking of one's own death by suicide is sometimes ref ...

notesShneidman, E. S. & Farberow, N. L. (1957). Some comparisons between genuine and simulated suicide notes. ''Journal of General Psychology'', 56, 251-256. (notes collected from non-suicidal subjects and compared with writings in a 1957 study). In 1958 with

and Robert Litman, he founded the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center. The psychoanalyst Litman acted as executive director. At a time when suicide was little studied and discussion of it was avoided, they were pioneers. Shneidman helped them get funding for the project from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

(NIH). In 1966 Shneidman began working as chief of a national project at the NIH to establish suicide prevention centers, and increased their number from a few to 100 in 40 states in three years. In 1968 Shneidman founded the

and its bi-monthly journal called ''

''. Changes in ideas of medical care led to the end of the national project and decreases in funds for suicide prevention centers. The Los Angeles Center was combined with programs of the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center. More recently, treatment of people with depression and

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, disorders often associated with suicide, has depended chiefly on the biological model and psychiatric drugs. In 1970 he became the first professor of thanatology at UCLA, where he taught until 1988. He continued to write and mentor other psychologists throughout his life.

Marriage and family

Shneidman married Jeanne, and they had four sons: David William, Jonathan Aaron, Paul Samuel, Robert JamesWILLIAM DICKE, "Edwin Shneidman, Authority on Suicide, Dies at 91"
''New York Times'', May 21, 2009 He died at the age of 91 on May 15, 2009, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Legacy and honors

*1973, the Edwin S. Shneidman Award was founded by the American Association of Suicidology, to honor scholars under age 40 for their contributions to the research of suicidology. *1987, he received the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Service. *2005, Marian College awarded him an honorary doctorate and established a program in thanatology named for him *2007, he received the Erasing the Stigma Leadership Award from the Didi Hirsch Community Services Center.

Works

*''Clues to Suicide'' (with

) (1957) *''Cry for Help'' (with Farberow) (1961) *''Essays in Self Destruction'' (1967) *''The Psychology of Suicide: A Clinician's Guide to Evaluation and Treatment'' (with Farberow and Robert E. Litman) (1970) *''Death and the College Student: A Collection of Brief Essays on Death and Suicide by Harvard Youth'' (1973) *''Deaths of Man'' (1973), nominated for a National Book Award *''Suicidology: Contemporary Developments'' (1976) *''Voices of Death'' (1980) *''Suicide Thoughts and Reflections, 1960–1980'' (1981) *''Death: Current Perspectives'' (1984) *''The Definition of Suicide'' (1985) *''Suicide as Psychache: A Clinical Approach to Self-Destructive Behavior'' (1993) :In this text, Shneidman coins the term "psychache"—intense emotional and psychological pain that eventually becomes intolerable and which cannot be abated by means that were previously successful—as the primary motivation for suicide *''The Suicidal Mind'' (1998) :Shneidman investigates three suicide attempts—one was completed --Schneidman taught the word "successful" was too sanguine and therefore inappropriate to use in reference to suicide, another led to death from infection several months later, and another uncompleted—and the common features of suicidal persons. An appendix features a questionnaire completed by one of his patients, measuring her level of "psychache". *''Lives & Deaths: Selections from the Works of Edwin S. Shneidman'' (1999) Edited by Dr. Antoon A. Leenaars. *''Comprehending Suicide: Landmarks in 20th-Century Suicidology'' (2001) :Editor — A compilation of previously published articles on the topic of suicide, starting with '' Le suicide'' by

Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim (; or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French Sociology, sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern soci ...

—one of Shneidman's heroes. *''Autopsy of a Suicidal Mind'' (2004) :An investigation into the suicide of "Arthur"—a doctor and lawyer who killed himself at age 33—including interviews with his family and loved ones, and responses from psychiatrists, psychologists, and sociologists. *with David A. Jobes, ''Managing Suicidal Risk: A Collaborative Approach'' (2006) *''A Commonsense Book of Death: Reflections at Ninety of a Lifelong Thanatologist'' (2008) :An

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

References

Thomas Curwen, "His Work Is Still Full of Life"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', June 5, 2004, reprinted at the Carter Center

External links

American Association of Suicidology

''LA Times'' *Suicide Documentary Featuring Shneidman
Archived April 4th, 2018 at the Wayback Machine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shneidman, Edwin S. 1918 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American Jews Jewish American atheists American atheists 20th-century American psychologists American sociologists Health professionals from Los Angeles People from York, Pennsylvania Suicidologists Thanatologists 21st-century American Jews