alcoholism, risky sports, some sexual disorders, and eating disorders. By way of a suicide note the person who is suiciding has the last word. It is also a way for the person to explain, bring closure (or not), to give guilt, to dictate wishes, to control, to forgive or to blame. Here is a list of the parts that might go into a suicide note. Contributors One of the first to contribute to the study of suicidology is Edwin S. Shneidman. Shneidman is considered to be the father of suicidology. Shneidman's definition of suicide is a conscious act of self-induced annihilation, best understood as a multidimensional malaise in a needful individual who defines an issue for which suicide is perceived as the best solution. He thought of suicide as psychache or intolerable psychological pain. Another notable person in the field of suicidology is Emile Durkheim. To Durkheim the word suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result. Basically he saw suicide as an external and constraining social fact independent of individual psychopathology. In David J. Mayo's definition there were four elements to suicide: A suicide has taken place only if a death has occurred. The death must be of one's own doing. The agency of suicide can be active or passive. It implies intentionally ending one's own life. Sigmund Freud and Karl Menninger had similar views on suicide. Their definition of suicide had three different aspects. One was a murder involving hatred or the wish to kill. The second one was a murder by the self often involving guilt or the wish to be killed. The last one is the wish to die. They thought of suicide being a murderous death wish that was turned back upon one's own self. Freud also believed that we had two opposing basic instincts—life (eros) and death (thanatos)—and all instincts sought tension reduction. He also believed that suicide is more likely in advanced civilizations requiring greater repression of sexual and aggressive energy. Jean Baechler's definition of suicide was that suicide denotes all behavior that seeks and finds the solution to an existential problem by making an attempt on the life of the subject. Another worker in the field of suicidology was Joseph H. Davis. The definition he gave for suicide is a fatal