alanabit,

My experiences tell me that there is no one reason why some one may attempt suicide, but the psyche is in no way separate from the soma, and visa versa. There is no such thing as 'just a chemical imbalance'
(and I don't think you were meaning to sound dismissive when you wrote that)

There are many who will say that the psyche and the soma are intimately connected and interactive. I say they are aspects of the same whole. It is sometimes necessary to speak of them as if they are two interelated but separate parts, but to think of them in that way is still an artificial construct, and it is important to be mindful of that.

In the past few years advances in imaging technology and neuroscience have lead to the dawning of a new understanding of infant brain development, and by extension, human behavior, temperment, personality. A debate has raged for years among mental health researchers and practitioners about nature vs. nurture. That debate has just about disappeared. This is because we now know that the neural pathways and connections-the hardwiring of the infant brain, develop in response/reaction to a complex matrix of genetics, other biological factors, and the experiences of infancy and very early childhood. (And we are in the very early infancy of our understanding this.) It is not nature vs. nurture. It is not, even, nature and nurture, It is naturenurture.

On a different note, any thoughts or concerns about life and death, be they about contemplating our own suicide, or trying to understand the choices of another, are ultimately existential concerns. We all have many of the same questions, but we each have to arrive at our own answers, find our own ways of making meaning. They ways we do this, the ways we find meaning, the answers at which we arrive vary within ourselves over time and in different circumstances. The problem with suicide, in most cases, is that it is a choice that can not be revoked or revisited once successfully acted upon.

Holding you, your brother and family in my thoughts.

Peace.

Janie