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Finding Aid for the Edwin S. Shneidman papers, 1933-2007
385
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Title: Edwin S. Shneidman papers
Date (inclusive): 1933-2007
Collection number: 385
Creator:
Shneidman, Edwin S.
Extent:
37 boxes (37 linear ft.)
Abstract: Edwin S. Shneidman (1918-2009), Psychologist and Professor of Thanatology, was a leader in suicide research, or suicidology
as he called it. His interest in the nature of suicide and the suicidal mental state began in the late 1940s, and he dedicated
his life to understanding and prevention of suicide. Shneidman's theory of suicide was based on his idea of psychological
pain he termed "psychache." His theories are vastly influential in today's suicide research and prevention. Shneidman founded
the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center in 1955, developed a national suicide prevention center program with the NIMH in
the 1960s, and authored 20 books and hundreds of articles. In 1987 Shneidman received the American Psychological Association
Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Service. The collection contains research files on suicide, restricted patient
information, correspondence, related audio-visual materials, and a small collection of Herman Melville ephemera.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Language of the Material:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections
for paging information.
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library
Special Collections for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the
creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright
owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Edwin Shneidman, 2009.
Processed by Daniella Perry and Amanda Stemen in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from
Megan Hahn Fraser, October 2011.
The processing of this collection was generously supported by
Arcadia
funds.
[Identification of item], Edwin S. Shneidman papers (Collection Number 385). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E.
Young Research Library, UCLA.
Edwin S. Shneidman (1918-2009), Psychologist and Professor of Thanatology, was a leader in suicide research, or suicidology
as he called it. His interest in the nature of suicide and the suicidal mental state began in 1949. He found hundreds of suicide
notes in the Los Angeles County Coroner's office while researching two cases. The rest of his life was dedicated to the understanding
and prevention of suicide. Shneidman held appointments at Harvard, the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Center for
Advanced Studies of Behavioral Science at Stanford, and at UCLA. His theory of suicide was based on the notion that there
is a threshold of mental/emotional pain upon which some individuals come to feel that cessation of life is the one and only
solution. Shneidman termed this pain "psychache," and could be researched without resorting to biological or genetic causation.
Shneidman concluded that most suicidal individuals, while in the fatal suicidal state, are ambivalent about dying and can
be saved. His theories are vastly influential in today's suicide research and prevention.
Shneidman became the first Professor of Thanatology at UCLA in 1970 and remained a full-time professor there until 1988. Shneidman
also founded the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center in 1955, with Norman Farberow and Robert E. Litman. In 1966, he was
asked to develop a national suicide prevention center program at the NIMH. Shneidman authored 20 books and hundreds of articles.
Shneidman believed that suicidology should be about the understanding of the whole individual. He developed the "psychological
autopsy," a method of figuring out an equivocal death, or a retrospective investigation of the intention of the decedent.
Shneidman also believed that post-vention, the treatment of an attempted-suicide and the suicide's family, was just as important
as prevention and intervention.
In the late 1960s, Shneidman founded the American Association of Suicidology and its journal,
Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior. As an internationally recognized scholar on suicide and suicide prevention, he was active in developing suicide or life-threatening
behavior prevention programs in various centers at UCLA, as well as in Japan. In 1987 Shneidman received the American Psychological
Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Service.
As a fan of Herman Melville, Edwin Shneidman wrote extensively on the suicidal connections in Melville's life and his writings,
such as Moby Dick. Shneidman was a member of the Herman Melville Society and donated his Melville Collection to UCLA in the
late 1980s. Shneidman's personal collection contains left over Melville ephemera and related correspondence with the Melville
Society and Shneidman's work on Melville.
The collection contains research on suicide, including restricted materials on suicidal patients, professional and personal
correspondence, documents related to Shneidman's professional responsibilities, literature authored by Shneidman, and documents
and correspondence related to Herman Melville. There are several boxes containing audio-visual materials of transcripts, radio
and television appearances, patient conversations, and a NIMH suicide training manual.
Arranged in the following series:
- Biographical
- Suicide Research
- Suicide Prevention Centers
- Correspondence
- Professional Activities
- ESS Publications
- Herman Melville Documents
- Reference Materials (Including audio/visual)
- Uncategorized Materials
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Shneidman, Edwin S. --Archives.
Suicide --Research --Archival resources.
Book collectors --California --Los Angeles --Archival resources.
Thanatologists --California --Los Angeles --Archival resources.
Items Removed from the Collection
Items removed from the collection include non-Shneidman personnel files, empty folders, and duplicate files and reprinted
publications.