by Paul R. Robbins

About the author: Paul R. Robbins is the author of Adolescent Suicide as well as other books on health and psychology.

Why do people commit suicide? This is a very difficult question to answer, for suicide flies in the face of what we see throughout the multitudinous forms of life that exist on this planet, where the impetus toward survival seems fundamental. One has only to look at nature films on a public television channel to witness the struggles that animals make to hang onto life. Yet people kill themselves, and young people who seemingly have the richest, most fulfilling part of their lives ahead of them are not immune from self-destruction.

When we ask for explanations for suicide, we are in a real sense asking for theories, for the question why do people...