In many countries suicide is one of the main causes of death among the under 40's. These facts face widespread tabus on suicide and suicidality in many societies. For this reason some countries are testing national strategies for the prevention of suicide. These strategies, however, rarely reflect and apply psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytical approaches. Suicidology is also dominated by epidemiological and, increasingly, biological approaches.
Psychiatric perception defines suicidality as a psychopathological symptom of depression.
In view of this, psychoanalysis must certainly offer the most advanced methods for understanding suicidality at this time. Even here, however, the exchange of treatment concepts is inadequate. The congress is intended as a contribution towards the inclusion of stronger psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic competency in the discussion regarding the understanding, treatment and prevention of suicidal experience and behaviour. Psychoanalysis pursued the subject of suicidality very early in its history. The discussion and theory formulations, however, appear to have developed differently in individual language areas since the 50's.