Book Reviews : Suicide and Scandinavia. By HERBERT HENDIN. (New York: Grune & Stratton, 1964. Pp. 177. $4.75. Paperback: Garden City: Doubleday Anchor, 1965. 95¢.)

• Published date: 01 December 1965
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296501800437
• Author: Stanley V. Anderson
• Date: 01 December 1965
• Subject Matter: Articles

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Suicide and Scandinavia. By HERBERT HENDIN. (New York: Grune & Stratton,
1964. Pp. 177. $4.75. Paperback: Garden City: Doubleday Anchor, 1965. 95¢.)
The Mythical Correlation Between Social Welfare and Suicide in Scandinavia
Has Been Definitively Debunked. Would that that meant we had heard the last
of it! Following ten years of similar investigation in the United States, Dr. Hendin
devoted four years to the study of suicide in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. He
learned the Norwegian and Swedish languages. In 1964, Suicide and Scandinavia
was awarded the annual prize for original research of the Association for Psycho-
analytic Medicine.
That cradle-to-grave security is insufficient as an explanation of suicide is seen
in the fact that Denmark’s high suicide rate dates back at least 100 years, antedating
economic planning and social welfare. Moreover, Sweden and Denmark have high
suicide rates (one per year per 5,000 population) while Norway has a low rate (one
per year per 13,500 population), yet social conditions in the three countries are much
alike. Finally, countries more disparate -
Austria, Germany, Japan, and Switzer-
land - also have the high annual rate of suicide experienced by Denmark and
Sweden.
Debunking simplistic assertions is easy. Hendin’s contribution is in defining
those complex traits of national character which lead to suicide. In Denmark, the
key trait is dependency built up in childhood by solicitous mothers who renounce
and suppress aggression while manipulating guilt feelings as a disciplinary device.
Later, when protection is lost -
through death, divorce, or other separation -
the
lonely one may either seek release or try to instill guilt in his erstwhile partner by
committing or attempting suicide. The welfare state may reinforce this pattern by
providing another arena for articulation of the dependency relationship -
a form
of the relationship, however, which is not normally subject to disruption.
Swedish suicide has a different...