"Alice Birch's new play is scored like a piece of music ... It is an extraordinary echoing text, full of pain and strange beauty. The three stories play out simultaneously on stage, the dialogue from one scene overlapping with the other two in a manner that borders on the choral ... Birch has provided a text that explores these ideas in a formally invigorating way." The Stage Three generations of women. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings with it a painful legacy. A powerful, unflinching look at a family afflicted with severe depression and mental illness. Presented as a triptych of plays performed side by side, this groundbreaking play reverberates with audiences and readers. Published for the first time in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features a brand new introduction by Ava Davies.

“I have Stayed. I have Stayed – I have Stayed for as long as I possibly can.” Three generations of women. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings with it a painful legacy. Alice Birch's Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning play is a powerful exploration of inter-generational trauma, told across three interlinking narratives.

Through this work, the writer aimed to establish that the tendency to commit self-destruction is largely susceptible to those principles that regulate the treatment of common diseases. He provided details on everything from suicides of the ancients and their laws against it to new solutions for its prevention in his time.

With recent studies using genetic, epigenetic, and other molecular and neurochemical approaches, a new era has begun in understanding pathophysiology of suicide. Emerging evidence suggests that neurobiological factors are not only critical in providing potential risk factors but also provide a promising approach to develop more effective treatment and prevention strategies. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide discusses the most recent findings in suicide neurobiology. Psychological, psychosocial, and cultural factors are important in determining the risk factors for suicide; however, they offer weak prediction and can be of little clinical use. Interestingly, cognitive characteristics are different among depressed suicidal and depressed nonsuicidal subjects, and could be involved in the development of suicidal behavior. The characterization of the neurobiological basis of suicide is in delineating the risk factors associated with suicide. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide focuses on how and why these neurobiological factors are crucial in the pathogenic mechanisms of suicidal behavior and how these findings can be transformed into potential therapeutic applications.

Whether competent, terminally ill patients have a right to die with the assistance of their physicians or whether state and national governments have legitimate interests in forbidding the exercise of this right are the central questions around which this book revolves. In either case, essential constitutional issues as well as ethical and medical reflections enter the debate. This book, blending original sources and expert commentary, prepares its readers to enter the discussion by providing an accessible and concise introduction to the law and politics of physician-assisted suicide. Its timely appearance also sets the stage for understanding future state referenda, court decisions, legislation, and executive orders expected in 2002 and beyond. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Loneliness is everybody’s business. Neither a pathology nor a rare affliction, it is part of the human condition. Severe and chronic loneliness, however, is a threat to individual and public health and appears to be on the rise. In this illuminating book, anthropologist Chikako Ozawa-de Silva examines loneliness in Japan, focusing on rising rates of suicide, the commodification of intimacy, and problems impacting youth. Moving from interviews with college students, to stories of isolation following the 2011 natural and nuclear disasters, to online discussions in suicide website chat rooms, Ozawa-de Silva points to how society itself can exacerbate experiences of loneliness. A critical work for our world, The Anatomy of Loneliness considers how to turn the tide of the “lonely society” and calls for a deeper understanding of empathy and subjective experience on both individual and systemic levels.