"Suicide prevention is a National Health Service priority in the United Kingdom. People with mental illness are seen to represent one of the most vulnerable groups for suicide and recent British Government policy has focused on prevention and management of perceived risk," scientists in Wales report (see also Schizophrenia).

"This approach to suicide prevention is constructed under a biomedical model of psychiatry, which maintains that suicidal persons suffer from some form of disease or irrational drive towards self-destruction. Many react to the idea of self-inflicted death with instinctive revulsion, which has prevented serious discussion of the concept of rational suicide, particularly in relation to those with schizophrenia. The idea that there may be circumstances in which suicide can be viewed as rational is discussed within the biomedical approach to ethics and wider literature primarily in relation to physical disease, terminal states and chronic pain. It is not deemed a viable choice for those who are considered 'non-autonomous' due to the controlling forces of mental illness. I propose that suicide is not a consequence of mental illness per se, and that it may be seen as a rational response to a realistic perspective on the course and consequences of living with schizophrenia," wrote J. Hewitt and colleagues, Swansea University.

The researchers concluded: "The denial of dialogue about the validity of suicidal ideation for people with schizophrenia has led to negative consequences for people with serious mental illness in terms of justice and recognition of person-hood."

Hewitt and colleagues published their study in Medicine Health Care and Philosophy (Rational suicide: philosophical perspectives on schizophrenia. Medicine Health Care and Philosophy, 2010;13(1):25-31).

For more information, contact J. Hewitt, Swansea University, Dept. of Philosophy Hist & Law, Singleton Pk, S Wales SA2 8PP, Wales.

Publisher contact information for the journal Medicine Health Care and Philosophy is: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands.