Critical discourse analysis and suicide: Beyond the narrative of the disease

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the theoretical tools that critical discourse analysis provides to an understanding of the phenomenon of suicide. Two discussions are central to defining the foundation for that relationship. First, a critical examination of the relationship between different mass media platforms and the idea of imitation as it pertains to suicidal conduct is proposed. Subsequently, suicide is approached as a practice that is interpolated by social, political, and cultural constructions, not solely limited to psychopathology. Finally, the role of critical discourse analysis generates an understanding of suicide that problematizes the hegemonic narratives produced by the epistemological and political demands of technoscience.