A DIFFERENT STATE OF MIND: SUICIDE AND PARANOIA
Summary: This article provides a theoretical discussion of a possible link between suicide and paranoia. Even though suicide is associated with different types of psychopathologies in the literature – specifically with narcissism in psychoanalytic works – the possibility of a link between paranoia and suicide is hardly mentioned. Nevertheless, a closer investigation of the Lacanian theory together with different case examples may provide an alternative perspective about this connection. Congruently, my aim is to describe how the narcissistic suicidal aggression may shelter a paranoid overtone which blossoms into suicide notes and into the functions of this act itself, by providing a closer look at the dynamics of the mirror stage and the connection between foreclosure and literary productions. Moreover, I shared some of the findings from my PhD thesis on suicide notes to highlight the link between paranoia and suicide.