Vivências subjetivas de idosos com ideação e tentativa de suicídio

Résumé 0

"We discuss the subjective experienc es of elderly people who show suicidal ideation and/or attempts at suicide, based on their own reports. We understand the concept of ‘subjective’ as referring to intrapsychic experience resulting from social, economic, relationship or biograph ical conditions. Although the subject is sparsely covered in the literature, it is important, because it is in the field of subjectivity that ideations of, and attempts at, suicide develop and occur until they become a concrete act. Empirical data were collected through semistructured interviews fo cusing on: social characterization, portrayal and mode of life, previous mental state, atmosphere of the attempt, effects on the health of the elderly person and family. Based on the analysis of the meanings that emerge, five empirical categories were generated: (1) subject’s feeling of being in a nonplace; (2) absence of acceptance of losses; (3) suffering due to ingratitude of family mem bers; (4) feeling of uselessness of, and in, life; (5) resignification of the situations that generate sui ciderelated conduct. The results point to a funda mental need to incorporate knowledge about the subjective processes into programs for prevention of suicide among the elderly who have ideation of, or attempts at, suicide."