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A reader wonders about the use of a new way of referring to suicide:
I came across “completed suicide” repeatedly in an article by the Mental Health of America Board of directors that used this phrase repeatedly in their petition to have President Obama send letters of condolence to family of service members that have committed suicide. Is “completed suicide” correct? I have heard of committed suicide and attempted suicide, but not “completed suicide.” What’s your take?
My take is that, outside its valid use in medical literature, the expression “completed suicide” is being used as a euphemism by people who feel there’s more of a stigma attached to saying that someone “committed suicide.”
In a post at Common Sense Journalism, Doug Fisher says that he asked several copy editors what they thought of the term and found that “the reaction was almost uniformly negative” regarding its use. His post includes a comment by Pam Wood, chief copy editor of the American Medical News, in which she explains the medical use of the term.
In a non-technical context, “completed suicide” is redundant. Suicide is a word like murder; the single word says it all. There can be nothing incomplete about a suicide. It is an accomplished act. One can speak of “a failed suicide attempt.” Once the act has been committed, it’s a suicide.
Trying to soften the anguish of a family member who has lost a child or spouse to suicide is understandable. Support groups can be excused for using the term “completed suicide” if they think that it will make their members feel better.
Professional journalists probably ought to go ahead and say that someone has committed suicide.
Besides, over time, euphemisms have a way of becoming just as harsh as the original expression.
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I think here, the idea may be that “committed” would be suggestive of a criminal act (committed suicide, committed burglary, etc) and the idea may be to avoid interjecting a moral stance by the White House, and to simply express sympathy to a grieving family.
But completed is probably not the best word. Successful maybe? No…
I don’t understand the use of “completed suicide”, as I don’t believe the stigma is with the word, “committed” but with the act, “suicide.” As in committed a murder, the stigma is attached with the act itself. I still feel, if one wants to convey that the sucide attempt failed, one says, “attempted suicide, but failed.” Committed suicide already has an air of finality about it, so I doubt the word, completed is required at all.
I don’t think there is a way to make the completion of a suicide attempt not feel harsh.
Sometimes it is just best to say it and move on.
I’ve lost two friends to suicide. On each occasion a different phrase was used by the people who broke the news.
It’s just as shocking to be told your friend “killed themselves”, as it is to be told they’ve “committed suicide”.
The information is what causes the distress.
In general, the opposite of “complete” (ie total or finished) would be “incomplete” (meaning, there is something missing or unfinished). However, in this case, the opposite would be “uncompleted,” or, as you mentioned, “failed,” or, as we in the medical profession might also say, “attempted.”
So for example, if a doctor is dictating a report, s/he might mention in the patient’s psych history that the patient has had X number of suicide attempts, and might also mention, in the section about the patient’s family history, that (for example) the patient’s mother had 2 suicide attempts and finally completed suicide (on, presumably, the 3rd attempt). Or, perhaps the mother completed suicide on the very first try.
I suppose it is a substitute word (in this case) for “committed,” but I think we are just accustomed to the phrase “committed suicide,” and anything else (paired with the word suicide) sounds odd. You could commit a suicide attempt too; why not? To “commit” just means to “perform” (in this case). But we don’t say “performed suicide.” It just sounds odd; we’re not used to hearing that phrase. In fact, it sounds like something you might hear from a non-native English speaker, who hasn’t quite got the lingo down yet.
I’ve worked in the mental health field for years and haven’t heard the term “completed suicide.” It sounds redundant. It’s either a suicide, a suicide attempt or a suicide gesture. It might just be my little corner of the world, but I don’t see any of us changing to that particular terminology.
@Nancy: I have been in the medical field for more years than I care to remember (almost 30 as a PA and almost 20 as a medical transcriptionist). I have had some exposure to psych along the way, intermittently, and also now work daily transcribing reports for several psych clinics. I have heard the term “completed suicide.” Perhaps this is a new way of phrasing it (younger doctors using the term), or perhaps it is a regional thing (my accounts are in the Illinois area). But, it is out there.
“Completed suicide”???
That falls into the same category as the faux-word the word-butchers use, the faux-word “fullest”,
—like :
“Trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”
Well, I’m glad they used the faux-word “fullest”—because I intend to trespass just a little bit—and perhaps then I will only be prosecuted to the “full” extent of the law—which, obviously, is less that the “fullest” extent.
See ya.
Phil
My first reaction to the phrase “completed suicide” is that it makes sense as a parallel to “attempted suicide.”
@Dick: Sure, why not? I agree with you. Suicide gesture, suicide attempt, suicide completion. Mission accomplished, performed, completed, done…committed…whatever.
There is “attempted suicide”, where the guy didn’t die. And suicide. Would it be an oxymoron to say “successful suicide”? Because any suicide is in essence a failure at life. The irony loom large. Be clear and concise. Why say “successful suicide” when just “suicide” is enough? Unless, say, you are describing a series of unsuccessful attempts, and finally, the successful one. There is never a second successful one.
As an Army Chaplain, I teach many classes on suicide prevention. One of the aspects I teach is that there are different types of suicidal behavior: Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempt, and Completed Suicide. The word “completed” is added to be more specific in the discussion. Without the modifier, “completed”, the discussion gets confusing. It is that simple.