parasuiciden.
/ˌparəˈs(j)uːᵻsʌɪd/, U.S. /ˌpɛrəˈsuəˌsaɪd/ Psychiatry (chiefly British).
The action of making an apparent attempt at suicide by deliberately harming oneself, but without death as the desired result; an instance of this. Also: a person who has carried out, or is likely to carry out, such an action.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > suicide > [noun] > pretended attempt at
pseudocide1959
parasuicide1969
the world > life > death > killing > person who commits suicide > [noun] > pretend or false
parasuicide1969
pseudocide1969
1969 N. Kreitman et al. in Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 115 747/1 The ‘attempted suicide’ patient is not usually addressing himself to the task of self-destruction, and rarely can his behaviour be construed in any simple sense as oriented primarily towards death. To designate this act, which is like suicide yet is something other than suicide, we now propose the term ‘parasuicide’.
1971 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 119 283/1 A bet on the football pools has, of course, much remoter chances of success than a bet on a horse-race, but parasuicides showed no special preferences for more or less hazardous gambling pursuits.
1981 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 1 Aug. 337/1 The incidence of parasuicide rises steeply in adolescence.
1997 Times Educ. Suppl. 18 July 18/6 A 24-hour para-suicide service for adolescents, based at King's College Hospital.
2001 J. Paris in J. F. Schumaker & T. Ward Cultural Cognition & Psychopathol. x. 148 Crosscultural differences in the prevalence of symptoms such as parasuicide, suicide, antisocial behavior, and substance abuse.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1969