Dépression clinique

Suicide Risk: Phenomenological Notion of the Threshold Effect

Abstract

Mareike Wolf-Fédida and Victor LINA

Sometimes suicide is committed suddenly and other times suicide is planned long time ago. This study aims to know about the background of the time effect for psychic life how the idea of suicide is growing up. Is suicide unpredictable or is there another factor like latency coming up for being acted out? Incarceration and prison environment has a very high risk for suicide in France. This study confronted observations of psychiatrists and psychologists having prisoners as patients. Their observations are compared too with psychiatrists and psychologists having a double professional experience in town and in prison. Interpretations of statistics about suicide risk complete information. This interpretation is helped by the phenomenological notion of the threshold effect (Zutt, Kuhlenkampf) coming from early experimental psychology (Th. Fechner). All results agree about the importance of being in contact with the prisoner from the very beginning of his incarceration. The incarcerated person has to get started when entering in prison by verbalizing about himself. Later he may have lost all motivation and may be tired by all interpersonal effort. The risk of hetero and auto-aggression will be high.