Sociological Perspective On Suicide Essay

My thoughts were destroying me. I tried not to think, but the silence was a killer too. (n.a., 2018). This quote perfectly describes my experience and my perspective of an individual mind frame constipating suicide. In 2001, my father committed suicide at the age of forty-three. I was twenty-two when he died. I choose this chapter to see if the sociology perspective of suicide aligns to what my perspective was or is on my father’s suicide. Before I dig into sociological theories, I will give you a little background information. I have two younger siblings, my parents married when my mom was seventeen and my father was nineteen. My mother was a stay at home mom until I started junior high. When I was twenty, my sister was eighteen and my brother was sixteen my mother decided that her job as a parent was done. She began to have an affair with a coworker, moved out and told my father she wanted a divorce. My brother and sister were still living at home at the time. This is when my father began to ignoring responsibilities, avoiding family and friends, performing poorly at work due, trouble sleeping, feelings of hopelessness, difficulty concentrating and loss of appetite. It took me a year and half to see and understand that he was depressed, I thought this was how he was processing the divorce and life changes. My father …show more content…
Some of the biopsychosocial risk factors were substance abuse (marijuana), hopelessness, mental disorder and previous suicide attempts. The environmental risk was loss of a relationship, and easy access to lethal means (guns). The sociocultural risk was the stigma with seeking help. This was a major influence. I grew up with the mentality that we don’t air out our dirty laundry. I remember my father thought it was a sign of weakness to seek help through our family doctor or to speak with a therapist. My father refused to speak with a therapist, he thought it made him lesser of a