Immobilization Response to Suicidal Behavior

Interpersonal effects of a suicidal communication.

“…On both an emotional and behavioral level, nearly half of Rudestam's subjects refused to respond to the suicidal communication as a serious threat; and sometimes even when the threat was acknowledged emotionally (i.e., shock, fear, or concern was reported), it was ignored behaviorally. Litman (1964) reported a similar phenomenon from his clinical experience with suicidal situations. He proposed that ordinarily suicidal threats automatically "release" rescuing activity in others but that this natural process can be aborted when the nature of the relationship keeps the import of the suicidal threat from being recognized (e.g., in relationships in which feelings are typically expressed very obliquely).…”

Suicide, Loss, and Mourning

“…Even in the act of killing himself he seeks a reunion with his lost objects. Litman (1964) observed a number of suicides resulting from the loss of a symbiotic union in which the suicides were an attempt to restore the lost narcissistic union.…”

Vital Process in Suicide Prevention: Group Psychotherapy as a Community of Concern*

“…There are, incidentally, surprisingly few reports of the actual treatment of suicidal persons in long-term therapy-at least of patients with whom the central or initiating problem was self-destructive impulses. Federn (1929) has written about it in an earlier period, and Litman (1957and Litman ( , 1964, Tabachnick (1961), Mhtz (1961Mhtz ( , 1966, Shein and Stone (1969), and Farberow and Shneidman (1961) have discussed the problems in more recent times. Farberow and Shneidman's (1961) The Cry for Help also contains a section on theory and treatment of the suicidal patient from different points of view.…”