Is it possible to kill oneself? A psychoanalytic approach to working with the individual post-suicide attempt

An abridged version of this paper was presented at the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s 33rd World Congress (Austria, June 2025). In this paper, I pose and respond from several angles to the following question: Is it possible to kill oneself? The purpose is twofold: first, to elaborate on psychoanalytic theory pertaining to suicide; second, albeit a primary concern, to promote interdisciplinary dialogue with wider suicide prevention research and practice. The question is used to orient a critique of the current mainstream suicide prevention paradigm that is dominated by positivist, risk-based models. I address the difficulties this presents for both patient and clinician and plea for a deeper theoretical engagement with the clinical phenomenon of suicide, one that resists reducing the act to a symptom of mental illness. I use the question to offer a clinical contribution to working in the aftermath of a non-fatal suicide attempt; specifically, using a Freudian and Lacanian framework, I examine the disjunction between the individual’s act and her purported intent (or lack thereof), arguing that psychoanalysis is in a unique position to engage with such instances.