According to the World Health Organization, suicide is committed every 39 seconds across the planet with about 20 million people try to commit it each year. And on the face of it, the definition of suicide is rather obvious. It?s the ending of one?s own life. Yet if we investigate the matter a little further however, we discover there are several types and even more causes.
We even learn that suicide means different things in different parts of the world, and we learn that the affects of suicide in those parts are just as varied. In fact, each type, meaning, cause, and effect of suicide is unique to the individual who commits it. And if you?re working as a suicide prevention counselor or a concerned parent or friend, you?ll find the following information invaluable in your efforts to understand the act as a whole.
Suicide Can Be an Act of Patriotism or Political Protest
Common among warring non-Westerners and terrorists, people may commit suicide as an act of patriotism or political protest. Known as suicide bombing, individuals arm themselves with explosives and explode in a large crowd of people or near a symbolic building. The act of suicide in this case is designed to eliminate a large group of unsuspecting opponents, or it?s designed make a political statement relative to the place in which the suicide is committed.
Suicide Can Be an Act of Redemption
In the Asian culture, suicide may be an act of redemption and even regarded honorable in certain sectors. Seppuku was quite common in Feudal Japan but it began to dissipate after the fall of the Feudal Japanese military aristocracy. Even still, the principles of suicide persist unto today. In 2007 for instance, the head of a Chinese company behind the Mattel toy safety scandal committed suicide as a way to (according to culture) escape shame. And although the act has always been a historical phenomenon in the Asian culture, Japan and China continues to hold the highest rate of suicide in the world today.
Suicide Can Be an Escape from Pain and/or Anguish
In the Western culture, suicide is seen as an escape from physical pain, emotional pain, or mental anguish. It can also be an act of revenge or a way to avoid punishment. Individuals who commit suicide to escape emotional pain or mental pain do so for a variety of reasons ? all which contribute to an inner turmoil in which they believe has no solution.
When a person commits suicide to escape from physical pain (such as the pain experienced from terminal cancer), that individual may partake in what?s known as assisted suicide. With assisted suicide, a family member or doctor administers lethal drugs so that the sufferer simply passes away. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a notorious figure often associated with assisted suicide.
But unlike in non-Western cultures, suicide for non-medical reasons is viewed as a mental health issue. Suicide attempts are often labeled as symptoms of depression or anxiety, rather than redemption, protest, or honor.
Suicide Can Be a Combination of Motivations
It?s important to note that suicide doesn?t always neatly fit into a single type, meaning, cause, or effect. Nor does it fit into a specific culture. When analyzing the subject, it?s always best to first acknowledge a pattern and then recognize its own characteristics that are unique to each victim.
Kelly Bush is a founding member and a Director of the Lee Eric Drake Foundation.
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