| M |
|
| Maintenance therapy |
Ongoing care to manage a condition or disorder. |
| Major affective disorder |
Alcoholism, bi-polar disorder, depression, schizophrenia. |
| Major depression |
Severe disorder that impairs normal functioning. |
| Making final plans |
Overt actions indicating imminent jeopardy. |
| Manipulated suicide |
Completion induced by persuasion (Battin). |
| Manipulative suicide |
Attempt with no intent to end life (Schneidman). |
| MAOI |
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors; class of antidepressant medications. |
| Marginalized grief |
See discounted grief. |
| Marker |
Physiological indicator or predictor of suicide risk. |
| Masculine grief |
Cognitive style of grieving common among men and some women. |
| Mass suicide |
Completion of suicide by an organized or related group. |
| Meaning making |
Attempting to understand the reason for a suicide or other loss. |
| Means |
Firearms, rope, poison, etc., used to complete suicide; see lethal means. |
| Means restriction |
Preventing access to weapons, drugs, etc.; detoxifying auto exhaust or cooking gas (CDC). |
| Media contagion |
Suicides felt caused by press/TV/radio coverage of a death. |
| Medical futility |
Point where further care or intervention would be of no benefit. |
| Medical model |
View of suicide as a disease or caused by a disease. |
| Medicalization |
Redefining a behavior as an illness or disease. |
| Medicide |
See assisted suicide (Kevorkian). |
| Mercy booking |
Police practice of jailing mentally ill individuals if no option exists. |
| Meta-analysis |
Research reporting combining results from multiple studies. |
| Minor depression |
Chronic mild disorder; see dysthymic disorder. |
| Modeling |
Suicidal behavior in imitation of a celebrity death or other prior suicide. |
| Moderate depression |
Many symptoms present; partly affects functioning. |
| Moral agent |
Individual morally obligated to act when others are subject to harm. |
| Morbid grief reaction |
See delayed grief, |
| Morbidity |
Extent of a disease in a given population; ill health. |
| Mortality |
Number of deaths in a given population in a given time frame. |
| Mortality study |
Research on causes of death in a specific population. |
| Mourning |
Outward individual demonstration of being bereaved. |
| Mourning ritual |
Formalized expression of bereavement. |
| Multiple suicides |
See mass suicide. |
| Murder-suicide |
Victim commits homicide immediately before completing suicide. |
