The Challenge of Suicide

I can also think of the LTTE - apparently the leaders in the global list of perpetrators of the largest number of suicide attacks, ever ready for suicide missions, and the pioneers of the suicide belt.

Celebrate life, and cricket, and in particular IPL.:)

Suicides committed by terrorists are not real suicides. They do not intend to kill themslves. Their intention is to kill others. But they do not know how to do that and get away. So in the process they are prepared to give up their lives. Its primary motivation is to murder. That kind of suicide is entirely diffenent cattle fish compared with someone taking his/her life because he/she feels totally despondent.

Hi Celine, thanks for the note. I didnt purposefully refer to suicide terrorism as for the same reason that Morris mentions.

Suicide is sad enough otherwise...

Thanks for the comment, Morris. I agree with you

public suicides are actually pretty angry acts. if you kill yourself and make other people witness it, or do it such a way that causes someone else to be involved (like jumping in front of a car, train, etc.) there is an element of anger in that. I always wondered about that.

I also wonder about the increasingly american phenomenon of taking out your whole family then killing yourself. It shocks and astounds me that someone could be so ill that they could rationalize murdering their family because of their own depression.

No idea, SS, #4. Public suicides are also messages. Such as the public hara kiri spectacles. But people throwing themselves in front of the train or what have you are more banal if you ask me, just because they dont have access to other killing mechanisms...but you are right, who knows why they would like to go public?

Also, I would say that killing your entire family is not just american, but is seen across the world. I saw records of that happening across in Russia, Japan, India, Australia, UK, etc. etc. So many places. But yes, why on earth would you murder your kids just because you have gone bankrupt? or what have you? sighs, what a tragedy.

Previously as a libertarian, i used to not like the idea that the government can make committing suicide illegal. But after this article, I can see why govt's make it illegal. Even if there is the slightest deterrence value in that criminalisation of suicide, then some family member's life will be spared...

to me a public death is rather like a final "eff you"... like "my life was miserable, I want you to see how miserable it was, and I want you to be miserable too"

I do not want it to seem like I have no sympathy for people who are depressed, because I do. But people who do things like jump off an overpass into oncoming traffic really make me mad. it ruins someone else's life in the process. if you kill yourself at home or in the woods, then that is your business. it makes me sad that anyone would be so hopeless, though.

as for killing the whole family, yes, of course it happens all over. but the US is seeing a dramatic increase in these kinds of crimes, and it is horrifying. seems like about one a week now

#2 and # 3:
I am not qualified to comprehend the psychologies behind suicide terrorists but I do have an idea why suicide terrorism should be classified separately from the above in view of ideological, culture, political, religious and other angles related to justifying their acts.

However, I guess we can't rule out completely the element of despair inherent in such people too. Could there not be a possibility that some of the suicide bombers of say, LTTE or Palestine or for that matter attackers of USS Cole, may have had a sense of low self-esteem, been clinically depressed and/or perhaps have gone through a feeling of utter despondency prior to volunteering to carry out those ghastly acts?

BD:

""Previously as a libertarian, i used to not like the idea that the government can make committing suicide illegal. But after this article, I can see why govt's make it illegal.""

unfortunately this seems to have no effect on the rates. and if govt's were to punish attempted suicides by capital punishment, that would ironically defeat the purpose.

The classic text by Emile Durkheim, _Suicide_ is still very relevant. He distinguished 4 kinds of suicides:

Anomic: when society changes dramatically; whether economic or social transition, rates will shoot up. Currently, South Africa and the formerly Eastern European societies have very high rates, partly due to social transformations. (Anomia = lack of norms due to sudden social change)

Altruistic: when the individual is too tightly integrated to a social group or community. Individual failure is seen as "letting down the group". Most suicides, but not all, in Japan and Singapore are of this type. Some cases of "suicide bombers" too - in their mind, they think, rightly or wrongly, that they are doing something for their group: ethnic, linguistic, religious etc. The spike in suicide rates in India, of students who fail in exams etc., are of this kind too...they feel they have let down their family, friends etc. Also when people feel they are a burden to their group. In the past, in some Japanese communities, the elders would walk into the snow to die since they thought they were no longer productive members of their communities (Movie: _The Ballad of Narayama_). Many other societies had this phenomenon.

Fatalistic: when all opportunities are perceived to be totally blocked; sudden economic losses, business failures etc.

Egoistic: when the bonds of the individual to a social group is very loose, not tight, whatever that means. Just after a bitter divorce for example, when their are no kids etc.

There may be problems with the typology above and some suicides may straddle two or more categories, but it is useful in classifying and understanding suicides in a more deep manner.

BTW, insects may appear to be commiting "suicide" but there is no self-understanding of the act, so it is not really "suicide" as understood by humans. As in insects for sure do not understand and interpret their acts as meaningful action, unlike humans and some other species such as the primates.

CS, lol, yes, i of course hold no truck with capital punishment but i can see the rich irony there.

thanks for the textual reference, mate, have added it to the tbr folder but this area is poorly studied because of logistical and psychological reasons.

Final point, that's an interesting philosophical question. I was, obviously aiming from the Hindu post buddist perspective of reincarnation. So the actual negation of one's being, despite being an insect, is part of the journey towards moksha. And actively removing oneself from this journey earlier than potential (whether or not in a fully deterministic manner) "seems" like suicide but as you say, we dont know. We are imposing human values and philosophy and epistemology on them poor ticks..

"One is very ill and cannot take the pain."

Reminded me of Sallekhana, though Jains and many do not equate this practice (of fasting unto death) to suicide.

Well, that's a good point. Is fasting to death suicide? As in treated as something to be stopped or avoided? How about assisted suicide? Very difficult questions. Not sure I have a good answer

if indications are true, suicides will increase as the fundamental rights of people are being violated. The laws offer these people no respite. Suicide is a statement.

People who commit suicide are weak and hence statements from such people don't carry that much weight. Suicides which kill their own kids, often with murderous weapons are losers.

If you are wronged, please stay alive, dont kill yourself or others. There are so many ways your life can help others. suicide is no option

after a grim and lengthy trial that leaves many of the witnesses depressed and suicidal, the supreme court judge intones with an air of gravity:

"based on section such and such, on the grave charge of attempting to end your life illegally, you are hereby sentenced to death by execution. On the document you have before you, please chose two preferred method of execution. We will try our best to accommodate your request".

Prisoner: "No! It was a mistake, I want to live!"

Judge: "I have pronounced my judgment. Nobody. not even me, is above the law."

Shrieks and howls from the gallery as a number of the witnesses and members of the jury attempt suicide in the court-room. More gruesome trials in store.

I would like to add a perspective from Japan and so will limit my comments to what I know about here A few observations and facts from Japan:


Japan is not significantly different to some other OECD countries. Comparison with South Korea, which has a higher suicide rate, will show this.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_suicide_rate#cite_note-2


http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/.html


Kamikaze pilots did not go willing to their death, as any study of their diaries and letters that some of them wrote before they died reveal. They were human beings just like the rest of us and very young and naturally scared. I have talked with survivors of these squadrons who were injured or never given the order to sacrifice themselves for their country and not one of them spoke of any commrade who was ordered to their death as being willing to die.


I am a psychologist and psychotherapist working in Japan for over 20 years. Mental health professionals in Japan have long known that the reason for the unnecessarily high suicide rate in Japan is due to unemployment, bankruptcies, and the increasing levels of stress on businessmen and other salaried workers who have suffered enormous hardship in Japan since the bursting of the stock market bubble here that peaked around 1997. Until that year Japan had an annual suicide of rate figures between 22,000 and 24,000 each year. Following the bursting of the stock market and the long term economic downturn that has followed here since the suicide rate in 1998 increased by around 35% and since 1998 the number of people killing themselves each year in Japan has consistently remained well over 30,000 each and every year to the present day.


The current worldwide recession is of course impacting Japan too, so unless very proactive and well funded local and nation wide suicide prevention programs and initiatives are immediately it is very difficult to foresee the governments previously stated intention to reduce the suicide rate to around 23,000 by the year 2016 being achievable. On the contrary the numbers, and the human suffering and the depression and misery that the people who become part of these numbers, have to endure may well stay at the current levels that have persistently been the case here for the last ten years. It could even get worse unless even more is done to prevent this terrible loss of life.


During these last ten years of these relentlessly high annual suicide rate numbers the western language media seems in the main to have done little more than have someone goes through the files and do a story on the so-called suicide forest or internet suicide clubs and copycat suicides (whether cheap heating fuel like charcoal brickettes or even cheaper household cleaning chemicals) without focusing on the bigger picture and need for effective action and solutions.


Economic hardship, bankruptcies and unemployment have been the main cause of suicide in Japan over the last 10 years, as the well detailed reports behind the suicide rate numbers that have been issued every year until now by the National Police Agency in Japan show only to clearly if any journalist is prepared to learn Japanese or get a bilingual researcher to do the research to get to the real heart of the tragic story of the long term and unnecessarily high suicide rate problem in Japan.


Useful telephone number for Japanese residents of Japan who speak Japanese and are feeling depressed or suicidal:


Inochi no Denwa (Lifeline Telephone Service)：

Japan:
Tokyo:

Andrew Grimes
Tokyo Counseling Services

I would also like to suggest that as many Japanese people have very high reading skills in English that any articles dealing with suicide in Japan could usefully provide contact details for hotlines and support services for people who are depressed and feeling suicidal.


Useful telephone number for Japanese residents of Japan who speak Japanese and are feeling depressed or suicidal:


Inochi no Denwa (Lifeline Telephone Service)：


Japan: 0120-738-556
Tokyo: 3264 4343

Thank you for that information, Andrew. this is a global/human crisis (not in the sense of recessionary crises, etc. but more existential of course), and support is necessary.

If you'd like to write for Desicritics, please mail us.

andrew... no, unemployment, etc are NOT causes of suicide... they are factors in suicide. as a therapist you should know the difference! plenty of people who are unemployed do not suicide.

I would want to know what is different in Japan.... be it societal pressure stating that a man is worthless if he is unemployed, leading to severe depression.. is it that men in japan are not allowed to voice their stress and frustration? it is never one single thing that causes suicide.

I would be interested to know your deeper analysis.

Andrew, I have lived in Japan and often unemployment is equated to a goner for men and society is cruel.

We face a similar situation in India and I would be interested to compare the suicide factors between Japan and India. Unemployment is a big factor and a small state of Goa sees a suicide rate of 1 per day.

Also would like to know the post unemployment therapy that is undertaken in Japan, such knowledge will be great asset as Japan has undergone something that we in India are beginning to experience.

Andrew

"Economic hardship, bankruptcies and unemployment have been the main cause of suicide in Japan over the last 10 years"

Could it be that these economic factors extract heavy social cost, and thus leading men to suicide? So the key factor could be social cost associated with not succeeding economically.

SS:

""I would want to know what is different in Japan.... be it societal pressure stating that a man is worthless if he is unemployed, leading to severe depression.. is it that men in japan are not allowed to voice their stress and frustration?""

Andrew is right about unemployment leading to a spike in suicides in Japan. Part of it has to do with the fact again, of individuals feeling the shame and pressure of having let their "family down". During boomtimes, lifetime employment was a reality for many, and the unemployed were looked down upon and stigmatized. Now, in Tokyo and other big cities, it is easy to find many folks, dressed up in suits, with a brief-case, spending the whole day in trains, faking employment. Lining up at free food areas, hoping not to see a colleague, who has also lost a job, there. Going home at the usual time, putting an appearance of being employed. Some even arrange other unemployed colleagues to call home and talk about work, to keep up the impression... A number of very hard-hitting movies have been made about this. Pretty sad, but once again, a consequence of dramatic social transformation, from almost full employment to being hit by the uncertainties of neo-liberal global capitalism that has hit other societies too like a global tsunami. In North America and Europe, unemployment is not equated with shame, although even here, the older generation would be ashamed to admit that they are collecting welfare. In Japan, with very limited welfare, and very low employment rates until a decade ago, it is seen as a major personal failure. Especially when traditionally, most middle-class women are stay-at-home housewives and not in the formal labour market. What Emile Durkheim in his book _Suicide_ would label as "Altruistic Suicide" or "Egoistic Suicide".

common, I agree that unemployment LEADS to suicide, but there are co-occuring factors that make it so that unemployment in japan is far more likly to result in suicide than in other countries. so it is not really correct, in a sense, to say that the cause is unemployment... what is interesting are the co-occuring factors that you have mentioned... now do you see what I mean?

also, I would argue vehemently that there is no stigma/shame attached to being unemployed in the US or Europe. although I agree that the shame is probably different than in Japan.

yup, i'm sure there are other co-factors, such that it's hard to pin down a single cause.

for north america/europe: the issue of shame etc. yes, what i said was in comparison to Japan. It is hard to convey the difference. Partly because unemployment a certain level, is a fact of life. Even for white collar and executive jobs, due to economic turbulence, constant downsizing etc. This, until recently, was not the situation in Japan. A recent BBC documentary showed how the largest steel mill in Osaska, persuaded its employees to take a two month unpaid holiday - a better alternative to firing a worker.

A recent movie that really captures the enormous stiga/shame/embarrassment when white collar workers are laid off is:

_A Piano Sonata_ (Japanese, with subtitles)

Available in North America. Provides a very hard-hitting window to work, employment, gender relations, generational differences etc. in contemporary Japan.

Altruistic and egoistic suicides are quite opposite to each other aren't they? Altruisitc occurs because of excessive 'integration' of the person with the society, you're willing to sacrifice your life for the greater common good. Egoistic suicide on the other hand happens because of excessive anomie, too much of individualism. Deaths in Japan can be called a combination of fatalistic and egoistic going by Durkheim's classification.

Dr. BD:

Two quotes to accompany your thoughtful piece on suicide:

"Because of its tremendous solemnity death is the light in which great passions, both good and bad, become transparent, no longer limited by outward appearances."

"Listen to the cry of a woman in labor at the hour of giving birth - look at the dying man's struggle at his last extremity, and then tell me whether something that begins and ends thus could be intended for enjoyment."

Soren Kierkegaard

Dr Sahab,

Talking of insects dying:

"There are, as is known, insects that die in the moment of fertilization. So it is with all joy: life's highest, most splendid moment of enjoyment is accompanied by death."
Soren Kierkegaard

Suicide was quite common in the medical schools of India. Many of my seniors and juniors died at Gwalior during my time.
During the Cold War time Hungary topped the list followed by East Germany.

Anon,

Durkheim's typologies are not completely iron-clad and totally distinct from each other. Thus, as you point out, many of them could come into play: if a Japanese executive loses his job, his suicide could be a combination of:

Altruistic: let down my family, my group etc. ie. too tightly integrated.

Egoistic: i am so good, how dare the fire me!

Anomic: the transition from the norm life-time employment and security, to the new norm of the pink-slip. A period of anomie ie. normlessness, when the old norms are disappearing and the new norms are yet to crystallize.

Fatalistic: shit, i lost my job, and at my age, with overspecialization, who will ever hire me. Plus my credit card debt etc. etc. all opportunities appear to be blocked.

However, the predominant type of suicide in Japan appears to be due to too tight an integration into the group, community, society etc., despite the other factors in play. Particularly so when the young kill themselves after failing to get admission to universities etc. - the sense of letting down their family and friends.

Yes, I love to ramble on endlessly. But what to do? Life is short, ramble forever...

Hmm... I guess suicides in Japan would then be a combination of altruistic, anomic and fatalistic. But egoistic suicides would predominate in a society with poor familial support and an individualistic orientation... But being the functionalist that Durkheim was he considered even suicides to be useful for society as they serve to highlight the deep structural problems in society.

Division of labour is another wonderful work of Durkheim....

erm, what we are missing here is that the average person does not look at a negative situation and decide that the only way out of it is to kill his or herself.

there are other factors that are in play. like undiagnosed depression or other forms of mental illness.

Emile Durkheim is a sociologist. Quite obviously he holds society responsible for affecting an individual's thinking pattern and action. I was referring to Durkheim's views on suicide.

The biological causes of suicide would be the non-availability of receptors for the neurotransmitter norepinephrine as a possible cause of depression and the excess availability of the same neurotransmitter for bipolar disorders and manic disorders. Or even more important, the role of dopamine in schizophrenia, whose victims are extremely prone to suicide.

SS:

"there are other factors that are in play. like undiagnosed depression or other forms of mental illness."

absolutely true! Durkheim does not discount these factors. At the same time, he does a brilliant job at demonstrating that the RATES of suicides, the sudden spikes and lulls, are quite clearly causally influenced by specific patterns of changes in society. Although his work has been subjected to lot valid critiques since the late 19th century when he published it, it was then and still is, a brilliant piece of work, that is in its broad outlines, very valid. Among other things he showed, statistically:

Catholics have on the average, half the rates of suicides than Protestants, under stable social conditions. Because Catholics are generally (not always) better integrated to society, due to the mediating and imp. role of the church. Protestants generally (not all) are encouraged to read and interpret the bible etc. individually, and not to be so dependent on the clergy (generally, not always true!). The rates of suicide for the followers of the Church of England he showed was somewhere between the rates for Catholics and Protestants, since the former is somewhere in between the two when it comes to organizational structures and the relationship between the individual and the "social". All three prohibit suicide. etc, etc, etc.

D strives to account for the rates suicides, not individual cases. The beauty of his work lies in connecting a very private, usually solitary act with larger social, non-individual forces at play.

I certainly agree that sociology is a major factor.

"Catholics have on the average, half the rates of suicides than Protestants, under stable social conditions. Because Catholics are generally (not always) better integrated to society, due to the mediating and imp. role of the church. Protestants generally (not all) are encouraged to read and interpret the bible etc."


Max Weber another famous sociologist in his 'Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism' holds the same 'Protestant ethic' (frugality, hard work and less involvement with religion and the Church) for the emergence of capitalism in many Western countries (esp. Britain). Ofcourse not as a causal factor but a corelational one. Its fascinating how things converge.....

He also holds the 'Eastern religions' with their heavy emphasis on attaniment of nirvana and moksha and their precoccupation with the 'other world' as detrimental to the development of the same. Its a slightly flawed theory but interesting all the same.

Should be 'attainment' and 'preoccupation'.