Reframing the mad intentions of those who suicide
Date
2013
Authors
Jaworski, K.
Editors
Araoz, G.
Alves, F.
Jaworski, K.
Alves, F.
Jaworski, K.
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Book chapter
Citation
Source details - Title: Rethinking madness: interdisciplinary and multicultural reflections, 2013 / Araoz, G., Alves, F., Jaworski, K. (ed./s), Ch.6, pp.111-127
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Abstract
There is a tension in understanding agency in suicide. On the one hand, those who suicide must be recognised as the authors of their deaths. On the other hand, those who suicide are often reported as having suffered from mental illness such as depression. This renders them intentional and agentic, but only to a certain degree. They killed themselves but only because they were not in their ‘right’ mind, since presumably no one in their ‘right’ mind wants to suicide. Can intent and agency in suicide be called rational, or is it inevitably attributed to madness and therefore irrational? What if it is rational even when someone is ‘mad’? What if it is rational precisely because someone is ‘mad’? I respond to these questions in four parts. First, I examine how suicidology interprets the notion of intent in suicide, and how this relates to the broader understanding of agency. Secondly, drawing on Judith Butler’s work on performativity, I consider whether agency is relational in suicide. Thirdly, I draw on Carl Jung’s work on the ego to think through the agency as relational. Fourthly, I explore whether intent in suicide is multi-dimensional, and what this offers towards recognising the agency of those who suicide, and honouring those who remain to grieve and remember. My argument is that understanding intent and agency in suicide is dependent not only on individual actions, but also on social norms and assumptions – all of which must be considered when the one who suffers from depression wants to end it all.