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| ==Overview== | | ==Overview== |
| Suicide ([[Latin]] ''suicidium'', from ''sui caedere'', to kill oneself) is primarily the act of intentionally ending one's own life, though it is also used as a [[metaphor]] for the "willful destruction of one's self-interest" either as an individual or as a group.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://m-w.com/dictionary/suicide |title=Merriam-Webster OnLine |accessdate=2007-07-21}}</ref> Suicide may occur for a number of reasons, including [[depression (mood)|depression]], [[shame]], pain, financial difficulties, or other undesirable situations. Nearly one million people worldwide die by suicide annually.<ref>[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/09/ab4b19da-5e47-471f-a26a-3b861a0395d8.html CIS: UN Body Takes On Rising Suicide Rates]</ref> There are an estimated 10 to 20 million attempted suicides every year.<ref>{{web cite |url=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1489848 |title=Suicide and psychiatric diagnosis: a worldwide perspective |date=2002-10-01 |publisher=[[World Psychiatry]]}}</ref>
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| Views on suicide have been influenced by cultural views on existential themes such as religion, honor, and the meaning of life. Most Western and some Asian religions—the [[Abrahamic religion]]s, [[Hinduism]]—consider suicide a dishonorable act; in the West it was regarded as a serious [[Legal views of suicide|crime]] and an [[sin|offense]] towards [[God]] due to religious belief in the [[sanctity of life]]. [[Japan]]ese views on honor and religion led to [[seppuku]], one of the most painful methods of suicide, to be respected as a means to atone for mistakes or failure or a form of protest during the [[samurai]] era. In the 20th century, suicide in the form of [[self-immolation]] has been used as a form of protest, and in the form of [[kamikaze]] and [[suicide bombing]] as a military or terrorist tactic. [[Sati (practice)|Sati]] was a Hindu [[funeral]] practice in which the [[widow]] would [[Self-immolation|immolate]] herself on her husband’s funeral [[pyre]].<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/news/words/general/020807_witn.shtml Indian woman commits sati suicide ]</ref>
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| Medically [[assisted suicide]] ([[euthanasia]], or the [[right to die]]) is a controversial [[ethics|ethical]] issue involving people who are [[terminal illness|terminally ill]], in extreme [[pain]], and/or have minimal [[quality of life]] through [[injury]] or [[illness]]. [[Self-sacrifice]] for others is not usually considered suicide, as the goal is not to kill oneself but to save another.
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| The predominant view of modern medicine is that suicide is a [[mental health]] concern, associated with psychological factors such as the difficulty of coping with [[clinical depression|depression]], inescapable [[suffering]] or [[fear]], or other [[mental illness|mental disorder]]s and pressures. Suicide is sometimes interpreted in this framework as a "cry for help" and attention, or to express [[despair]] and the wish to escape, rather than a genuine intent to die.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.euro.who.int/document/MNH/ebrief07.pdf |title=WHO Europe - Suicide Prevention | date=2005-01-15 |accessdate=2007-12-11 |publisher=[[World Health Organization]]}}</ref> Most people who attempt suicide do not complete suicide on a first attempt; those who later gain a history of repetitions are significantly more at risk of eventual completion.<ref>cite journalrlink = | coauthors = | year = 1988| month = September| title = The Epidemiology of Teen Suicide: An Examination of Risk Factors| journal = [[Journal of Clinical Psychiatry]]| volume = 49| issue = supp.| pages = 36–41| pmid = 3047106| url =|accessdate = 2006-04-12</ref>
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| ===Types of Suicide=== | | ===Types of Suicide=== |
| ====Cult Suicide====
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| A cult suicide is a mass [[suicide]] by the members of a cult.
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| <ref>*"Suicide Terrorists: Are They Suicidal?" Ellen Townsend. ''Suicide & Life - Threatening Behavior''. New York: Feb 2007. Vol. 37, Iss. 1; pg. 35, 15 pgs: "There are some other examples of suicides involving group (e.g., cult suicides) and dyadic (e.g., suicide pacts) processes; but these are very rare."<BR>
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| *"Leadership races need a little drama"; Tim Harper. ''Toronto Star''. Toronto, Ont.: Apr 19, 2003. pg. F.02: "... a vote for Campbell was akin to the party drinking its Kool-Aid, a stunning reference to the mass cult suicide at Jonestown in Guyana."
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| *"Suicidal credo that came from the West" Sam Kiley. ''The Times''. London (UK): Mar 20, 2000. pg. 3:"Until the weekend, suicidal doomsday cults were seen by Africans as a decadent Western luxury. But the deaths of more than 230 ordinary Ugandans ranks as the second-largest cult suicide in recent times."</ref> In some cases all, or nearly all members have committed suicide at the same time and place. Groups which have committed such mass suicides include Heaven's Gate, Order of the Solar Temple, Peoples Temple (in the [[Jonestown]] incident) and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. In other cases, such as Filippians and the Taiping, a group has apparently supported mass suicide but without necessarily encouraging all members to participate.
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| ====Euthanasia====
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| Euthanasia (from [[Ancient Greek]]: ''ευθανασία'', "good death"{{Ref_label|A|I|none}}) is the practice of ending the [[life]] of a human or animal who is incurably [[illness | ill]] in a [[Pain and nociception|painless]] or minimally painful way, for the purpose of limiting [[suffering]]. Laws around the world vary greatly with regard to euthanasia, and are constantly subject to change as cultural values shift and better [[palliative care]], or treatments become available. It is legal in some nations, while in others it may be [[crime|criminalized]].
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| Euthanasia can be conducted in various ways. In order to distinguish certain methods, more specific terminology may be used when discussing euthanasia.
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| ====Copycat Suicide====
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| A copycat suicide is defined as a duplication or [[copycat]] of another [[suicide]] that the person attempting suicide knows about either from local knowledge or due to accounts or depictions of the original suicide on [[television]] and in other [[Mass media|media]]. Sometimes this is known as a '''Werther effect''', following the Werther novel of Goethe.
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| In the absence of protective factors, the well-known suicide serves as a model for the next suicide. This is referred to as ''suicide contagion''.<ref name="AbnormalPsychologyBook">{{cite book
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| | last = Halgin
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| | first = Richard P.
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| | coauthors = Susan Whitbourne
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| | title = Abnormal Psychology with MindMap II CD-ROM and PowerWeb
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| | publisher = [[McGraw-Hill]]
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| | date = 2006
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| | pages = 62
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| | month = January
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| | id = ISBN 0-07-322872-9}}</ref> They occasionally spread through a [[school]] system, through a community, or in terms of a celebrity suicide wave, nationally. This is called a ''suicide cluster''.<ref name="AbnormalPsychologyBook"/> Examples of celebrities whose suicides have inspired suicide clusters include the American musician Kurt Cobain and the Japanese musicians Hide and Yukiko Okada.
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| To prevent this type of suicide, it is customary in some countries for the media to discourage suicide reports except in special cases.
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| ====Familicide====
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| A familicide is a type of [[murder]] or [[murder-suicide]] in which at least one spouse and one or more children are killed. In some cases all of the family members' lives are taken. <ref>Familicide : The Killing of Spouse and Children http://psych.mcmaster.ca/dalywilson/FamilicideSpouseChildren.pdf</ref>
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| Of 909 cases of mass murder (defined as 4 or more victims within a 24-hour period) in the United States between 1900 and 2000, more than half occurred within an immediate family. Although the total number of familicide cases are relatively rare, they are the most common form of mass killings. However, statistical data is difficult to establish due to reporting discrepancies.<ref name=sfexam> Berton, Justin. [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/20/EXPLAINER.TMP Familicide: Experts say family murder-suicides, though rare, are most common mass killing]. ''San Francisco Examiner'', June 20, 2007</ref>
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| Familicide differs from mass murder in that the murder kills family members or loved ones rather than anonymous people. This has a different psychodynamic and psychiatric significance, but the distinction is not always made. <ref>Malmquist, Carl P., MD. ''Homicide: A Psychiatric Perspective.'' Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, 1996, ISBN 978-0880486903</ref>
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| A study of 30 cases in Ohio found that most of the killings were motivated by a parent's desire to stop their children's suffering.<ref name=sfexam />
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| In Australia, a study was done of seven cases of filicide, the killing of one's son or daughter, followed by suicide in which marital separation followed by custody and access disputes were identified as an issue. Some common factors such as marital discord, unhappiness, domestic violence, sexual abuse, threats of harm to self or others were found in varying degrees. It was not clear what could be done in terms of prevention.<ref name=johnson>Johnson, Carolyn. ''Familicide and Custody Disputes - Dispelling The Myths.'' University of Western Australia, [http://www.community.wa.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/06788E97-F3E8-4B83-8D71-335F8FB0AA60/0/DCDRPT FamilicideAbstract_CarolynJohnson.pdf]</ref>
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| ====Forced Suicide====
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| Forced suicide is a method of execution where the victim is given the choice of committing [[suicide]] or facing an alternative they may perceive as worse, such as suffering [[torture]]; having friends or family members imprisoned, tortured, or killed; or losing honor, position, or means.
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| ====Internet Suicide====
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| An Internet suicide pact (cybersuicide pact) is a [[suicide pact]] made between individuals who meet on the [[Internet]].
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| ====Mass Suicide====
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| Mass suicide occurs when a number<!--"a number" is ridiculously vague -- is there a way to be more specific?--> of people kill themselves together and/or for the same reason.
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| ===Epidemiology and Demographics===
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| Studies show a high incidence of [[psychiatric disorder]]s in suicide victims at the time of their death, with the total figure ranging from 87.3%<ref name= "Arsenault-LapierreG2004"> Arsenault-Lapierre G, Kim C, Turecki G. (2004) Psychiatric diagnoses in 3275 suicides: a meta-analysis. ''BMC Psychiatry'', Nov 4;4:37. PMID 15527502</ref> to 98%,<ref name= "BetoloteJM2004">Bertolote JM, Fleischmann A, De Leo D, Wasserman D.
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| (2004) Psychiatric diagnoses and suicide: revisiting the evidence. ''Crisis.'', 25(4):147-55. PMID 15580849</ref> with [[mood disorder]]s and [[substance abuse]] being the two most common. In [[schizophrenia]] suicide can be triggered by either the depression that is common with this disorder, or in response to command [[hallucination|auditory hallucinations]]. Suicide among people suffering from [[bipolar disorder]] is often an impulse, which is due to the sufferer's extreme mood swings (one of the main symptoms of bipolar disorder), or also possibly an outcome of [[delusions]] occurring during an episode of [[mania]] or [[psychotic depression]]. Severe depression is considered a terminal illness due to the likelihood of suicide when left untreated.<ref> Shuster, JL.(2000) Can depression be a terminal illness? Journal of Palliative Medicine. Winter;3(4):493-5. </ref>
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| ==References== | | ==References== |