Dear all

I am looking forward to receiving the Morselli Medal.  I have seen a picture of it and it appears to be both gracious and impressive, well representing the prestige it bears.

My thoughts upon receiving notification of the award were more or less reflective.  As you are probably aware, I have always been interested in the history of suicide, and indeed wrote an introductory chapter on it in our Encyclopedia of Suicide.  I felt it was important that people know of the fascinating changes in attitude and concern about suicide had existed in previous eras in different parts of the world.  As a result I was well aware of the contribution on suicide by Morselli.  I was also aware of the relative lack of awareness and appreciation among students of suicide for the encyclopedic task accomplished by Morselli.  Indeed, his work, entitled Suicide: An Essay of Comparative Moral Statistics, has been described by Goldney and Schioldann, (2002) as "arguably the most important work of 19th century suicidology".  Incidentally, Morselli was only 27 years old when he published his book in 1879.  His work shines like a beacon, several decades before the seminal work of Durkheim, indicating the significance of suicide for concern as an important public health, mental health, medical, sociological, psychiatric, psychological, philosophical, and cultural event.  Unfortunately, however, interest and research in the area lapsed in the ensuing decades, although they did see the of monumental work Durkheim and Freud in this period.  To some degree, I feel a kind of kinship to Morselli in respect to the feeling that our work seems to have also served to restimulate interest and activity both worldwide and nationwide in the problem of suicide and its prevention.  The increase in interest and involvement in the field from the time we started to the present is remarkable, as evidenced by the huge increase in both government activities and policies and in professional clinical and research programs. 

I am very pleased to receive this Award, for it represents recognition and acknowledgment, especially by our peers, of the significance of our contribution to the field.  I am also very proud and grateful for the feeling that it allows me to join a list of very distinguished previous recipients of the Award.

Please use whatever of the above in any way that you wish.

My fond regards to Danuta.  And best wishes for the holidays.

Dr. Farberow