Suicide note

A suicide note is a message left by someone who later attempts or commits suicide. Approximately one third of those who commit suicide leave notes. Research indicates that suicide notes have a profound effect on the grief of those who read them.

Usefulness

The most common reasons in favor of writing a suicide note are:

• Easing pain - To make the death easier for those left behind, often by easing guilt.
• Closure - To bring relationships to a close and provide a satisfactory explanation of the reasons for the suicide.
• Autobiography - A summary of one's life or what one likes and dislikes.
• Artistic self-expression - Notes can take the form of a poem or short story.
• Instruction - An explanation of what one wants the readers of the note to do with his or her body, how one wants to be remembered, or things one wants to have happen.
• Revenge - To cause pain or guilt by blaming the suicide on others.

The most common reasons against writing a suicide note are:

• All or nothing - It is impossible to write a note that will eliminate all pain, anger and guilt.
• Consciousness - The person committing suicide will not be around when the note is later read. Also, some believe that one's death may cause the world to cease to exist in reality.
• Physical reminder - The suicide note could serve as a physical reminder of the suicide or could be constantly contemplated by those who read it, increasing their grief.

Famous Suicide Notes

The following people have left famous suicide notes

• Kurt Cobain - lead singer of the band Nirvana and husband to Courtney Love
• Virginia Woolf - English feminist author and poet
• O.J. Simpson - Former football player and actor who contemplated suicide after being accused of murdering his ex-wife
• James Forrestal - Former United States Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy
• Roger Angleton - Murderer and brother of famous bookmaker Robert Angleton
• J. Clifford Baxter - Enron Corporation executive
• Phaedra - Character from Greek mythology who fell in love with Hippolytus
• Budd Dwyer - disgraced Pennsylvania politician who, on national television, read his suicide note and then shot himself.

References in popular culture

In the UK general election, 1983, the British Labour Party decided to challenge Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party by adopting an extremely left-wing platform. This came after the party lost several of its senior members to the SDP-Liberal Alliance. Labour Party member Gerald Bernard Kaufman called the platform the "longest suicide note in history" and the party subsequently lost a large number of seats.

"Adam's Song" from the Blink-182 album Enema of the State is written as a suicide note.

"Stan", a song by Eminem from The Marshall Mathers LP, is written as a suicide note from a fan.