Suicidal thoughts and planning in the Book of Tobit - psychiatry in sacred texts.

Abstract

The Book of Tobit is a short but charming Jewish novella found in the Apocrypha. It concerns the family life of Tobit and his relatives, who live in the Persian diaspora, and was written in Aramaic probably between 200 and 300 BCE but comes to us through its Greek translation. Tobit is blinded when some pigeon droppings fall into his eyes and this causes his depression. Sarah is distressed because all seven times she gets married her bridegrooms die on their wedding night, leaving the marriages unconsummated, and this is all the work of thewicked Persian demonAsmodeus. As a consequence, both Tobit and Sarah suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts. The Book of Tobit is non-canonical in both the Jewish and Protestant religions, but is canonical for Catholics. Tobit 3: 1–11 and 16 is read in Catholic churches in the two-year cycle on theWednesday of the ninth week of year one, and the following verses give a good description of their depression and suicidal thoughts.