Triple taboo: Considerations about suicide among children and adolescents

Abstract

This article aims to understand the construction and repercussion of taboos involving suicides among children and adolescents, considering the discomfort, silence, and dread that the theme causes across society. Due to the recognition of a continuum of taboos (taboo of death < taboo of suicide < taboo of child suicide), the authors present, as an attempt to address this issue, the concept of a triple taboo, recognizing the incommensurability of self-inflicted deaths that have children and adolescents as protagonists. Developed from a qualitative study with paediatricians during their medical residence, this paper serves as a call to professionals who assist children and adolescents in the country. Paediatric training needs to recognise these taboos and the dimensions of suicidal behaviour as a manifestation of violence and as a threat to mental health. Their identification is a critical and urgent element in contemporary children and adolescents’ care.