Between Lines and Loss: Reflections on Suicide Notes as a Textual Genre and as Messages.

Suicide notes are a distinctive form of communication that may provide insights into how individuals express distress, construct meaning, and address others during psychological crisis. This review aimed to examine the formal characteristics, thematic content, and communicative functions of suicide notes. Studies focusing on the linguistic, structural, and communicative dimensions of suicide notes were included. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Suicide notes display recurrent rhetorical structures, including salutations, explanations, practical instructions, farewells. Beyond expressing distress, suicide notes perform relational and pragmatic functions: their content combines emotional disclosure, requests for forgiveness, expressions of affection, and references to hopelessness or perceived burden. This review highlights the impact of digital communication on the circulation and ethical management of suicide notes. Suicide notes can therefore be regarded as structured communicative acts rather than exclusively private expressions of despair. Further interdisciplinary research is needed to support grounded applications in mental-health communication and suicide prevention.