Very Human Ending - Hardcover

Suicide remains one of the biggest killers in the Western world, yet we struggle to talk about the factors that lead someone to take their own life. More often than not, it is negative social evaluations - real or imagined - that drive us to such an extreme course of action. So what is it about the human brain that means that we may not only entertain suicidal thoughts but, in some cases, actually act upon them? In A Very Human Ending, psychologist Jesse Bering dispels the silence and shame that surround the subject of suicide. Combining cutting-edge scientific research with investigative journalism and first-person testimony, Bering seeks to provide a better understanding of the suicidal mind. He speculates as to why we are the only species on earth that deliberately ends its own life and analyzes the journals and notes left behind by suicides for clues about why humans end it all. His penetrating anaylsis aims to demystify a subject that simultaneously attracts and repulses. A Very Human Ending is guaranteed to jump-start a new conversation about a perennial problem that knows no cultural or demographic boundaries.