Self-Preservation and the Development of Accident Proneness in Children and Adolescents

Stress and suicidal ideation in Korean baby boomers: the mediating effect of mindfulness and meaning in life

Stress has been shown to enhance elderly suicidal ideation. However, the effect of mindfulness and meaning in life on the relationship between stress and suicidal ideation in Korean baby boomers are still unknown. This study investigated (a) a significant correlation between the stress, suicidal ideation, mindfulness, and meaning in life, (b) the mediating effect of mindfulness in the association between stress and suicidal ideation, and (c) the serial mediating effect of mindfulness and then meaning in life on the relationship between stress and suicidal ideation. Data were collected from 200 baby boomers (born between 1955-1963) concerning their stress, mindfulness, meaning in life, and suicidal ideation. These findings suggest that if interventions directed at baby boomers can successfully improve their mindfulness and by extension raise their meaning in life, suicidal ideation will decrease within their population.

Psychoanalytic perspectives on adolescent suicide

From the beginning of the twentieth century, youthful suicide has posed both a clinical and a theoretical challenge for psychoanalysis. This paper examines several paradigmatic cases of completed suicide in order to illustrate important psychodynamic aspects of adolescent suicide. The contributions of the developmental psychoanalytic perspective to our understanding of adolescent self-destructiveness are discussed, with particular emphasis on Anna Freud's concept of developmental lines toward self-care and self-regulation. The applications of this developmental psychoanalytic perspective to clinical research on vulnerability to adolescent suicide are reviewed.

Psychiatric impairment versus adjustment in hemophilia: review and five case studies

The literature on psychiatric impairment and adjustment in hemophiliacs is reviewed with particular regard to types of psychiatric disorder and social maladjustment which have been found in adolescents and adults. A set of hypotheses is developed from the literature regarding factors which may interact with hemophilia to produce psychiatric impairment. The hypothetical factors relate to the age of onset and frequency of bleeding episodes; degree of gratification and restriction consequent to them; rejection by the father; and death of a sibling. Five cases are presented which are representative of the spectrum of psychiatric impairment in hemophilia. Some of the hypothesized factors are found to be significantly operative in the individual cases, and others are not.