Word: shneidman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Bridge? Because, says Seiden, the jump from that impressive span has considerable publicity value: "The newspapers keep a running box score on the number. It is a very dramatic way to die if a person doesn't want to end up in the classifieds." Adds Dr. Edwin S. Shneidman, former chief of the Center for Studies of Suicide Prevention at the National Institute of Mental Health: "One jumps from a place which has a reputation. It is the thing to do and the place...
...authorities make it easy for the jumper. Roving uniformed patrols peel an occasional eye for prospects. But, principally for aesthetic reasons, the kind of barrier that radically reduced leaps from Manhattan's Empire State Building, for instance, has never blighted the beauty of the Golden Gate. This horrifies Shneidman, who has prodded the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, the agency responsible, to withdraw its invitation to suicide. He rejects the board's argument that if it stops the bridge jumper, he will only go somewhere else to take his life...
...person cannot commit suicide when and where he wants in an impulsive moment," says Shneidman, "he might just say the hell with it." At a meeting last week, the board accepted Shneidman's proposal to consider installing a physical barrier against would-be jumpers...