Suicide in crises: a cultural perspective on discomforts and (post)pandemic resemantizations

Abstract

This paper examines the cultural dimension of suicide and its resemanticisation during periods of crisis, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Drawing on the foundations of the Sociology of Culture and the proposals of a Cultural Theory of Suicide, this research analyses the discourses of 15 key informants from mental health professions, the media, and suicide survivors’ associations. The methodology of this study is based on a discourse analysis inspired by a “strong programme” that looks at cultural expressions in combination with an analytical perspective of the History of Concepts and their (re)semantisation. The results of this research show how the notion of “crisis” overlaps meanings where the psychological or personal crisis converges with the crisis perceived both in a conjunctural and structural way, as conditioned by a cultural catastrophe or debacle. Therefore, this text provides a series of reflections and observations of interest in the observation of a phenomenon that is difficult to apprehend and locate despite its hegemonic psychopathological conception.