Zestforlife
Zest for Life and the Suicidal Mind
It is now widely known that suicide is an enormous social issue in Australia and worldwide, with approximately a million individuals who committed suicide in 2000 . Suicide is one of the leading cause of death, the year 1999 saw 2500 cases of suicide in Australia. A significant amount of theories have emerged as a result of the enormity of the issue. Interpersonal Psychological Theory focuses on three interactive risk factors surrounding suicidal behaviour and ideation – thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness and acquired capability (AC). According to the theory, suicidal desire is a factor of concurrent presence of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness . It is proposed that suicidal desire is insufficient to result in suicide, it is suggested that individuals must also acquire the capability to enact lethal self –injury (Van Orden, et al., 2008). The theory suggests that the need to belong and to contritube to others’ welfare are so fundamental that their absence is thought of as a proximal cause of suicidal desire (Van Orden, et al., 2008).
Like every theory it has gaps, interpersonal psychological theory assumes a linear progression toward suicidal behaviour. It fails to account for ambivalence between life and death. Most theories view suicidal behaviour as one motivational dimension of suicide: the wish to die . Another missing component from the theory are protective factors, the theory only focuses on the risk factors associated with suicide. Some protective factors are the inverse of risk factors, such as the presence of social support. Other protective factors may represent separate resilience factors, for example zest for life. It is argued that a suicidal person experiences an internal debate, between the desire for death and the zest for life . Zest for life refers to a life force that acts as a protective barrier against suicidal desires; a person has to overpower this force to commit
It is now widely known that suicide is an enormous social issue in Australia and worldwide, with approximately a million individuals who committed suicide in 2000 . Suicide is one of the leading cause of death, the year 1999 saw 2500 cases of suicide in Australia. A significant amount of theories have emerged as a result of the enormity of the issue. Interpersonal Psychological Theory focuses on three interactive risk factors surrounding suicidal behaviour and ideation – thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness and acquired capability (AC). According to the theory, suicidal desire is a factor of concurrent presence of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness . It is proposed that suicidal desire is insufficient to result in suicide, it is suggested that individuals must also acquire the capability to enact lethal self –injury (Van Orden, et al., 2008). The theory suggests that the need to belong and to contritube to others’ welfare are so fundamental that their absence is thought of as a proximal cause of suicidal desire (Van Orden, et al., 2008).
Like every theory it has gaps, interpersonal psychological theory assumes a linear progression toward suicidal behaviour. It fails to account for ambivalence between life and death. Most theories view suicidal behaviour as one motivational dimension of suicide: the wish to die . Another missing component from the theory are protective factors, the theory only focuses on the risk factors associated with suicide. Some protective factors are the inverse of risk factors, such as the presence of social support. Other protective factors may represent separate resilience factors, for example zest for life. It is argued that a suicidal person experiences an internal debate, between the desire for death and the zest for life . Zest for life refers to a life force that acts as a protective barrier against suicidal desires; a person has to overpower this force to commit