Perspectives freudiennes de l’acte suicidaire

Abstract

Oddly enough, without directly writing about suicidal acts, Freud helped emphasize, or more exactly to reemphasize, the homicidal and murderous character of suicide. In Mourning and Melancholy, he describes suicide as a thoughtful and inverted murder; as a homicide of the other through self-murder. For Freud, suicide is a centripetal reversal of hatred and hostility, as described by the Latin etymology sui (of oneself) and cidium (murder). Freud never made suicidal acts a central subject in his writings, however, the Freudian occurrences on the themes of suicide attempts or suicide are numerous in his work. Can his writings shed light on the understanding, although it remains rare, of the suicidal act? We propose, through a Freudian prism, to enlighten the practitioner in his work to understand and clinically manage suicidal acts.