Touched by Suicide

Christi Taylor-Jones

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English

Chiron Publications
25 October 2024

Sociology: death & dying; Psychology; Analytical & Jungian psychology

Touched by Suicide by Christi Taylor-Jones delves into the very personal, yet archetypal, reasons why people choose to end their life, or think about doing so. Although depression and mental illness are often cited as motivating factors, Taylor-Jones contends that anger, shame and self-hatred are greater contributors. Anxiety and impulsivity are also implicated. Underlying the suicidal urge, however, is a deep, and often unconscious, longing to end suffering through transformation and rebirth. Lacking the ability to undergo that process symbolically leaves no choice but to enact it literally.

Taylor-Jones emphasizes the importance of the symbolic element, and points out that suffering is part of life, and to live life fully requires making meaning out of the pain we do suffer. She explores the views of suicide throughout time, from the Greeks to Christianity and later psychology. She describes the role depression, mental illness, shame, and trauma play in suicidal thinking, as well as heroic and selfless motivations behind some suicides.

The book also distinguishes between conscious and unconscious suicide.

Her book, based on her own personal and professional experiences, as well as the basic tenents of C.G. Jung regarding the Self, the individuation process, and the soul, offers insight and hope to those who consider or who have attempted suicide, as well as those who seek an in-depth approach to the subject. Taylor-Jones claims that we need to transform the shame and judgment that often accompanies suicidal feelings and replace them with empathic understanding of suicide's ultimate goal.

Christi Taylor-Jones, MA, LMFT is a certified Jungian Analyst and writer, who is a frequent contributor to the journal Psychological Perspectives and other publications over the last thirty years. Her first book was Midlife Parenting; A Guide to Having and Raising Kids in your 30s, 40s and Beyond. She has also written and presented extensively on the issue of shame, depression and suicide.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Suicide Up Close and Personal

2. The Who, How, and Why of Suicide: An Overview

3. Historical Attitudes Toward Suicide

4. Suicide and the Soul

5. Jung and Suicide

6. Modern Views of Suicide

7. Suicide and Shame

8. Suicide and Depression

9. Suicide and Trauma

10. Transformation: An Unconscious Human Longing

11. A Clinical Perspective: Two Cases of Suicide

12. Summary and Reflections

Appendix 1: The Case of Suicide in Seattle

Appendix 2: Statistical Overview of Suicide Rates Worldwide and in the United States

Appendix 3: Neurobiological and Genetic Factors in Suicide

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

By: Christi Taylor-Jones
Imprint: Chiron Publications
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 576g
ISBN: 9781685035099
ISBN 10: 1685035094
Pages: 276
Publication Date: 25 October 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Christi Taylor-Jones, MA, LMFT is a certified Jungian Analyst and writer, who is a frequent contributor to the journal Psychological Perspectives and other publications over the last thirty years. Her first book was Midlife Parenting; A Guide to Having and Raising Kids in your 30s, 40s and Beyond. She has also written and presented extensively on the issue of shame, depression and suicide.

Reviews for Touched by Suicide

Taylor-Jones's Touched By Suicide is an insightful and moving exploration of what Albert Camus said is the only perduring philosophical problem: to be or not to be. All of us at times wish to end the suffering life has brought us, perhaps forgetting in the moment that whatever benefit might accrue thereby, one is not present to experience it. This book will make one think, feel, sympathize, and understand more deeply. What more could we ask of a book than that? -James Hollis, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst, and author of The Broken Mirror, Hauntings, and other books. Touched by Suicide: A Personal and Psychological Perspective on the Longing for Death and Rebirth is a long-awaited addition to the field of Jungian psychology. Not since James Hillman's groundbreaking book on the topic, Suicide and the Soul, has a Jungian analyst written a book examining the psychology and circumstances that can lead to the impulse to end one's life and the symbolic-yet often rational-underpinnings of such an urge. Grounded in personal narrative and case examples, no stone is left unturned as the author fearlessly journeys through historical and psychological thought about suicide and suicidality to help us better grasp its contemplation, expression, and transcendence by individuals living in the complexity of our contemporary times. -Marybeth Carter, Co-Editor of The Spectre of the Other in Jungian Psychoanalysis Touched by Suicide is a welcome and timely book that delves into not only the feeling, experiential level of this mostly tragic occurrence, but also an examination of its history in religions, philosophy, and the psychology underlying it, including shame, trauma, suffering, and sorrow. We are seeing an upward trend in suicides, which is truly disheartening. Christi Taylor-Jones elaborates on her own personal experiences with suicide involving herself and her family members, as well as discussing other examples in her life and practice as a Jungian analyst. I commend her for her comprehensive study of suicide, done in such a personal way that it makes it accessible to everyone. This is everyone's problem! So many people struggle with this themselves or with family or friends, even with aging parents who decide to die. Bringing it to light in Touched by Suicide is a rare and helpful gift. -Nancy Swift Furlotti, Ph.D. is a Jungian analyst.