Vol. 1 Issue 3, Autumn, 1997

        Adolescent Suicide and Poetry by Barbara Jameson, Ph.D.

      Most persons working with adolescents have haunting memories of a young person who has taken his or her life. We ask, "Were there signs we didn’t see? Is there something we should have done?"

      Two Israeli scholars, one in social work and the other in literature, collaborated in research to develop a technique to identify potentially suicidal adolescents by analyzing their poetry. Literature teachers in high schools are shown how to carry out poetry writing activity. Key words which are used by suicidal versus non-suicidal adolescents can be identified by the teacher, who then alerts school counselors if one of his/her students’ poems fits the suicidal model.

      For example, one student in the Israeli study handed in a group of poems that showed a high usage of the suicidal words. The officials had not known of the students stress. The poems follow...

      ...This young person, after total denial by the family that any problem existed, was finally given therapy and a potential disaster was prevented.

      The cry for help from this fifteen-year-old boy was not heard. The poem was written two years before he committed suicide:

      To Santa Claus and Little Sisters

      Once... he wrote a poem
      And called it "Chops."
      Because that was the name of his dog,
      and that’s
      what it was all about.
      And the teacher gave him an "A"
      And a gold star.
      And his mother hung it on the kitchen
      door and
      read it to all his aunts...
      Once...he wrote another poem.
      And he called it "Question Marked Innocence."
      Because that was the name of his grief
      and that’s
      what it was all about.
      And the professor gave him an "A"
      And a strange and steady look
      And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door,
      because he never let her see it...
      Once...at 3 a.m....he tried another poem...
      And he called it absolutely nothing,
      because that’s
      what it was all about.
      And he gave himself an "A"
      And a slash on each damp wrist,
      And hung it on the bathroom door
      because he
      couldn’t reach the kitchen.

      Young Sarah was more fortunate. Her cry for help was heeded and she managed to overcome her problem...


      She also expressed her recovery through poetry...

      The first line of the group poem that follows was written by the teacher...


      The material presented here can be found in a book of the same title written by Sharlin and Shenhar. The English version is edited by Dr. Jameson. The book is published by American Foster Care Resources, Inc., King George, VA USA

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