Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT
Suicide note may provide information related to the psychopathology of suicide attempters, which can be used to treat them as well as to prevent suicide in a group predisposed to similar situations. Cognitive therapy is a most widely tested psychotherapy, which is very useful in the treatment of emotional problems by changing or restructuring maladaptive patterns of thought of suicide attempters. Suicide note is used in many legal matters as an important piece of evidence, especially when deciding about the abetment under section 306 IPC. It is also useful in correlating with direct evidence. However, its importance over direct evidence depends upon the fact and circumstances of a particular case. So, the present paper is an attempt to discuss various medical and legal importance related to suicide note.
Keywords: Suicide Note, Cognitive Therapy, Sec 306 IPC, Will, Direct Evidence
INTRODUCTION
Death note or Suicide note is actually a message left behind by a person who committed suicide; it is important piece of evidence to find out the intention of the deceased, especially when it contains the reason behind his death. In this situation, it helps medico legally to confirm the actual manner of death. Occasionally, it is faked to start a new life or avoid prison, or for other reasons.1 Studying of the content of the suicide note not only helps medico legally, but also to understand and search for the preventive measures to reduce the incidences of suicide. The present article focuses on both aspects of the importance of suicide note.
Reasons for committing Suicide
Intentional killing of oneself i.e. suicide is considered as a crime in various areas of the globe. It is almost always associated with some reason. Badrinarayana (1977) revealed that younger people (10 to 30 years) were more likely to attempt suicide and in majority of cases attempts were due to mental illness and disturbed interpersonal relationships.2 Srivatsava et al. (2004) identified unemployment, presence of a stressful life event in the last six months, suffering from physical disorders and having idiopathic pain as definite risk factors for attempting suicide.3
Bagadia et al conducted a study on 521 patients admitted for suicidal behavior and observed that previous attempts were reported in 7% with 2.4% having more than one...