Alternatives to suicide

The aim of the chapter at hand is to outline a nonlinear dynamic perspective on suicidal processes and to discuss principles of interventions as well as resilience to suicide within this framework. Within this theoretical framework, the suicidal process can be described as a cascade of order transitions between different suicide-related states (i.e., order parameters) of an underlying nonlinear dynamic system. Successful treatment requires the realization of conditions for self-organized order transitions of the suicidal mode into functional, healthy regimes. Resilience can be understood, on the one hand, through the stability of the order parameter regimes associated with health. On the other hand, resilience to suicidality is associated with the development of alternative modes for coping with future crises. Finally, a number of implications for suicide research are outlined.