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Asian Women and Suicide tied to Model-Minority Stereotype

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In the wake of the VT shooting last month, another news source has confirmed what some mental health activists have been saying for years–and that is that racism and sexism has significant mental health consequences for those most impacted. This week, CNN reported that pressure to fulfill the model-minority stereotype contributes to the startling rate of suicide attempts among Asian American women. This main character of the story professor Eliza Noh, who began researching suicide among Asian women after her sister took her life, explained:

In my study, the model minority pressure is a huge factor,” says Noh, who studied 41 Asian-American women who’d attempted or contemplated suicide. “Sometimes it’s very overt – parents say, ‘You must choose this major or this type of job’ or ‘You should not bring home As and Bs, only As,” she says. “And girls have to be the perfect mother and daughter and wife as well.” …

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Harman’s Suicide Renewed Interest in Huisentruit Case

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On November 29, 2011, Kansas City’s beloved Fox 4 meteorologist, Don Harman, 41, succumbed to a lifelong struggle with depression and took his own life in his home outside Kansas City, Missouri.

For 12 years, Harman gave the morning weather report on Fox 4, where he was known for silly antics and costumes, a self-deprecating sense of humor, and ‘Doppler Don,’ a character he created to teach school children about the weather

Harman’s co-worker, Loren Halifax, said co-workers knew Harman was haunted by depression and worked with him to sort through his feelings.

Mark Alford, who had been Harman’s co-worker for more than a decade, said that Harman was disturbed at work on the day of the suicide.

Harman had once worked at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa, with Jodi Huisentruit, who disappeared June 27, 1995.

Harman once said about Huisentruit’s disappearance, “The world fell apart for a lot of us.”

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Suicide: Psychache and Alienation

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Psychache (s?k-?k), a neologism coined by suicidologist Edwin Shneidman,1 is unbearable psychological pain hurt, anguish, soreness, and aching. Shneidman theorized that unresolved psychache results in suicidal behavior. In almost every case of suicide, psychache is the cause. Psychache stems from thwarted or distorted psychological needs . . . every suicidal act reflects some specific unfulfilled psychological need.

The particular frustrated need leading to the nuclear problem varies from person to person, as does the threshold for enduring psychological pain. Freud’s brilliant student Victor Tausk yearned for recognition from his mentor, but Freud was not generous in his praise. Tausk shot himself, with a noose around his neck. Robert Schumann’s psychache stemmed from loss when he was 16, his father died and his sister committed suicide in quick succession yet many people experience the loss of an important relationship and do not attempt suicide....

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Characteristics Of Homicide Followed By Suicide Incidents In Multiple States, 2003–04

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Abstract

Objective

To calculate the prevalence of homicide followed by suicide (homicide/suicide) and provide contextual information on the incidents and demographic information about the individuals involved using data from a surveillance system that is uniquely equipped to study homicide/suicide.

Methods

Data are from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). This active state‐based surveillance system includes data from seven states for 2003 and 13 states for 2004. The incident‐level structure facilitates identification of homicide/suicide incidents.

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Deliberate Exposure To Motor Vehicle Exhaust Gas: The Psychosocial Profile Of Attempted Suicide.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Deliberate exposure to motor vehicle exhaust gas has become the second most commonly used method of suicide in Australia. In an attempt to understand the factors contributing to the rise in popularity of this method, the psychosocial profiles, factors influencing method choice and circumstances of the act of self-harm were examined in a group of survivors.

METHOD:

A cross-sectional cohort study of 30 patients presenting for hyperbaric oxygen treatment having survived deliberate exposure to car exhaust gas was undertaken. A structured clinical interview was administered together with scales measuring depression, hopelessness and suicidal intent. Daily assessment of mental state and cognitive function was performed.

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Homicidal Sex Offenders: Psychological, Phallometric, And Diagnostic Features.

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Abstract

Homicidal sex offenders represent an understudied population in the forensic literature. Forty-eight homicidal sex offenders assessed between 1982 and 1992 were studied in relation to a comparison group of incest offenders. Historical features, commonly used psychological inventories, criminal histories, phallometric assessments, and DSM diagnoses were collected on each group. The homicidal sex offenders, compared with the incest offenders, self-reported that they had more frequently been removed from their homes during childhood and had more violence and forensic psychiatric contact in their histories. On the self-report psychological inventories, the homicidal sex offenders portrayed themselves as functioning significantly better in the areas of sexuality (Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory) and aggression/hostility (Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory). However, on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), researchers rated the homiciders significantly more psychopathic than the incest offenders on Factor 1 (personality traits) and Factor 2 (antisocial history). Police records revealed the homicidal subjects also had been...

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Church Atendance, Denomination, and Suicide Ideology.

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Abstract

The influence of religion on attitudes toward suicide was explored, using a representative sample (N = 2,034) of 15- to 30-year-old Germans. The dependent variable was approval vs. disapproval of suicide in hopeless situations. A logit model that fits the data includes the variables of denomination, church attendance, education, and suicide of an acquaintance as well as a Church Attendance x Suicide of an Acquaintance interaction. Gender did not improve the fit of the model. The results of the analysis indicated that church attendance and Catholicism decreased support for suicide. The effect of religiosity on attitudes about suicide was not affected by gender or by education.

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Time of Day Chosen for Suicide

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Abstract

Previous studies suggest that suicide occurrence varies by month and day of the week, but not by lunar phase. Variation by time of day has never before been adequately examined; to our knowledge, all previous studies have failed to obtain time-of-death information for a large percentage of cases. We examined suicide occurrence among residents of Sacramento County, CA, during the period from 1925 to 1983. Data were abstracted from coroner's autopsy and investigative reports. In contrast to previous studies, data on time of death were available for a large percentage of cases. 4,190 suicide deaths were identified during the study period. Suicide occurrence varied substantially by time of day; for both sexes and for ages under 65 years, the fewest suicide deaths occurred during the early morning hours, from 0401 to 0800. For recent years of the study, suicides occurred most frequently on Monday for both males and females and for most age groups. Variation by month followed no consistent pattern by gender, age,...

See Also: Variation In Suicide Occurrence By Time Of Day, Day Of The Week, Month, And Lunar Phase.

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Evaluating Truthfulness and Detecting Deception

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Evaluating Truthfulness and Detecting Deception

By David Matsumoto, Ph.D.; Hyi Sung Hwang, Ph.D.; Lisa Skinner, J.D.; and Mark Frank, Ph.D.

While interviewing the suspect who claims ignorance about an incident, the witness who saw it happen, or the informant who identified the perpetrator, the detective asks a question that will eviscerate the perpetrator’s story. As the suspect prepares to answer, he looks up and to the left, purses his lips, tenses his eyelids, and brings his eyebrows down.

The investigator knows that a suspect displaying shifty eyes and gaze aversion and looking up and to the left when answering uncomfortable questions is exhibiting signs of lying. The suspect is not totally disinterested, but he is reluctant to participate in the interview. Because the suspect’s behavior suggests dishonesty, the detective prepares to drill still deeper in the questioning.

Unfortunately, this investigator likely would be wrong. Twenty-three out of 24 peer-reviewed studies published in scientific journals reporting experiments...

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Love, Hate and Murder: Commitment Devices in Violent Relationships

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Abstract

Many violent relationships are characterized by a high degree of cyclicality: women who are the victims of domestic violence often leave and return multiple times. To explain this we develop a model of time inconsistent preferences in the context of domestic violence. This time inconsistency generates a demand for commitment. We present supporting evidence that women in violent relationships display time inconsistent preferences by examining their demand for commitment devices. We find that no-drop policies – which compel the prosecutor to continue with prosecution even if the victim expresses a desire to drop the charges – result in an increase in reporting. No-drop policies also result in a decrease in the number of men murdered by intimates suggesting that some women in violent relationships move away from an extreme type of commitment device when a less costly one is offered....

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Reassessing the Situational Covariates of Homicides: Is There a Need To Disaggregate?

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Annotation: This study examined the situational covariates of four homicide types--domestic, drug, robbery, and interpersonal dispute--that occurred in Newark, NJ, from 1997 through 2005.

Abstract:

Findings show that each homicide type had distinctive situational covariates that were related to the nature of the incidents. For example, the situational covariates of domestic homicides differed from those of other homicide types in incident location, the use of guns, the number of suspects, and the characteristics of victims and suspects. Drug-related homicides differed from other homicide types in their occurrence in public housing complexes during weekdays, the use of guns, and the lack of alcohol or drug impairment by victims and suspects. Dispute homicides, on the other hand, were distinct from the other types regarding the variables of drug and alcohol impairment, victim-offender relationship, their prevalence during weekends, and the race of victims. Robbery homicides differed from the other types primarily in victim-offender relationship,...

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Management Of Penetrating Stab Wounds Of The Chest: An Assessment Of The Indications For Early Operation.

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Abstract

Haemothorax, haemopneumothorax, and pneumothorax were the most common complications in 85 patients with penetrating stab injuries of the chest. These complications were amenable to conservative treatment by aspiration or drainage of the pleural space. Immediate operation was indicated in 30 cases. Indications for surgery were haemorrhage from a major systemic or pulmonary vessel or the heart, cardiac tamponade, diaphragmatic penetration, oesophageal and bronchial tears, and sucking chest wounds. The need for immediate operation was clinically obvious at presentation in most cases. It should have been suspected from the situation of the entry wound, the nature of the weapon used, the size of the haemothorax, and the clinical findings in the others. All 11 deaths occurred in that group in which early operation was indicated, and some could have been averted had the need for operation been suspected early. Seven patients developed an empyema; five were in the group...

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Clinical Study On Stab Wounds Of Chest–Factors That May Influence Their Mortality

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Abstract

Stab wounds of the chest occupy an important position in penetrating thoracic injuries in Japan. A retrospective review of 117 patients with stab wounds of the chest admitted to our hospital over the past 12 years (from 1975 to 1987) revealed some factors that might influence their mortality. Seven patients died from trans-diaphragmatic injuries of intra-abdominal organs. The management of intra-abdominal injuries was very important in thoracic stab wounds. Many of the patients with stab wounds of the precordial chest (danger zone) had cardiac or major vascular injuries, and the mortality rate of them was high. The mortality rate of the patients with stab wounds of the right lateral thorax was high, because many of them had trans-diaphragmatic liver injuries. We thought that right lateral thorax as well as precordial chest is the danger zone in thoracic stab wounds. Survival rate in the patients whose circulatory condition had been unstable when...

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A Preliminary Validation of the Use of 3D Scanning for Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

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Abstract

3D scanning technology is beginning to be used more commonly to record crime scenes. Besides being able to document the scene and the locations of evidence within it, 3D scanners and associated software can now be used to analyze impact bloodstain patterns. In the present study, two “doubleblow” impact patterns were created in a classroom setting for analysis using both the HemoSpat bloodstain pattern analysis software and the FARO Focus3D scanner with FARO Scene software. Both methods produced area of origin results that were acceptably close to the actual initial blood source location.

Introduction

Impact bloodstain patterns, created when a blow is struck, can sometimes be analyzed to try to determine the approximate location of the source of the blood [1]. With this information in hand, an investigator can try to determine what might have occurred at the scene of the crime. Blood source areas of origin may indicate...

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The Postmortem Examination in Cases of Suspected Homicide

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The postmortem examination in cases of suspected homicide represents one of the most important applications of medicolegal science to the needs of the community. Its proper performance is of paramount concern to those agencies of government responsible for law enforcement and the effective administration of justice. In view "of the desire of the medical and legal professions, increasingly evident in recent years, to improve the standards and quality of medicolegal practice throughout the country, it was considered timely and appropriate to review again the subject of the postmortem examination in cases of homicide, and to point out what is expected in the way of performance of the person entrusted with it. In a paper published several years ago, the author described and discussed the routine procedures necessary in such examinations.' Inadequacies of Medicolegal Agencies and of the Statutes Pertaining to Them At present, in most sections of the country, the postmortem investigation of homicide is... inexpertly and

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Students And Teachers Perceptions Of Conflict And Power

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Abstract:

Social and economic changes have altered the traditional view of the teacher as the primary power holder in the classrooms making way for a reciprocal power relationship with students in which students and teachers share control of the learning environment. This study examined four urban high school teachers' and their students' perceptions of power. Data were collected through class observations and interviews and were analyzed via constant comparison. Teachers and students attempted to resolve the perceived conflict of interest over preferred class focus by using the power resources available to them. Students reported using non participation, personality power, disruptions, and teacher rewards to influence the class. Teachers felt their power had eroded, yet they were pressured by administrators in their schools to maintain order. They used strategies of strategic withdrawal and student rewards to pursue their values. The mutual influence on one another resulted in a negotiated curriculum of order, rather than education....

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