Comportamento Suicida: Sociedade, Assistência e Relações Comportamentais

Abstract

This work was built by means of three studies, a theoretical and two empirical ones. The first study aimed at relating the human development indicators (HDI) in the Northern capitals of Brazil, in particular the city of Macapá-AP, with conditioning aspects for suicidal behavior (CS). For that purpose, we accessed national and international publications that described epidemiological aspects of CS and evaluation of HDI. The data indicate that there is a relation between HDI dimensions - income, longevity and education - with suicide rates. The second study aimed at describing the knowledge that 28 psychologists working in assistance to public mental health have on the suicide phenomenon in the city of Macapá-AP, as well as identifying their procedures in the care of the people involved, through application of a self-administered questionnaire. The results indicate that, considering a perspective on CS knowledge, the professionals reported minimal knowledge, but individually incipient compared to what is described in the literature and, in particular, in manuals and public policies that emphasize on prevention and management of cases. In the third study, we aimed at describing the report about the life cycle (childhood, adolescence and current context) besides the suicide attempt episode lived by seven people (five women and two men). It was observed in the report of the life cycle that there are both events involving situations of cohesion and family conflict; sexual abuse situations, difficulty in dealing with the consequences of sexual orientation. Suicide attempt can be analyzed as a self-control strategy with escape and avoidance function. The study of suicidal behavior is a complex and dense area, which can motivate researchers to pursue further efforts in order to provide a better assistance to those involved