Suicide
Suicide (from latin sui caedere, self killing) is the act of ending one's
own life. It has been considered a sin in many religions and often a crime
as well. On the other hand, some cultures have viewed it as an honorable way
to exit certain shameful or hopeless situations.
If you are feeling suicidal or in despair, there is a list of support groups
at the bottom of this page. See also Clinical depression.
To be considered suicide, the death must be a central component and
intention of the act and not just an almost certain consequence; hence,
suicide bombing is considered a kind of bombing rather than a kind of
suicide, and martyrdom, self sacrifice in the service of others in
emergencies and reckless bravery in battle usually escape religious or legal
proscription. In the case that suicide has legal consequences this is
reflected in law in that there must be proof of intent as well as death for
the act to be suicide.
Epidemiology
It is probable that the incidence of suicide is widely under-reported due to
both religious and social pressures, possibly by as much as 100% in some
areas. Nevertheless, from the known suicides certain trends are apparent.
But since the data are skewed, attempts to compare nation to nation are
statistically unwise.
Generally there are more male suicides than female. Men also tend to use
more violent and certain methods than women (such as using guns as opposed
to taking pills). However in the developed world both sexes are approaching
parity. In relation to age, male suicide is an n-shaped curve with the peak
at ages 50 to 60. For both sexes suicide is an event for older individuals.
Certain time trends can be related to the type of death. In the United
Kingdom for example, the steady rise in suicides from 1945 to 1965 was
curtailed following the removal of carbon monoxide from domestic natural
gas. It seems that different cultures have different favorite methods, and
the easy availability of lethal methods plays a role. Certainly cultures
influence suicide rates.
Higher levels of social and national cohesion reduce suicide rates. Suicide
levels are highest among the retired, unemployed, divorced, the childless,
urbanites, and those living alone. The rate also rises during times of
economic uncertainty (although poverty is not a direct cause), while the
threat of widespread war is always associated with a steep fall in suicides,
even in neutral countries. The majority of suicides also suffer from some
psychological disorder. Depression in bipolar disorder is an especially
common cause. Severe physical disease or infirmity are also recognized
causes. There is no "class" distinction to suicide.
On an individual level the meaning of suicide varies across a range of
common themes. Simply seeking an end is uncommon. Stated reasons include
concepts such as a reunion with the dead (bereavement is a additional factor
in some suicides), a need for change from an unbearable situation, or a
desire to cause pain through causing remorse or grief. Multiple motives are common.
Suicide rates are influenced by publicity about suicide of famous people,
and even the fictional suicide of a character in a popular drama can raise
the suicide rate temporarily.
Group Rates
Suicide rates can vary significantly between different national, ethnic, or
racial groups. Japan saw its nation-wide suicide total increase from 21,346
in 1990 to 32,143 in 2002 [1]. This larger than 50% jump is attributed to
economic stagnation, and has led to a per-capita rate (25.2 suicides per
100,000 people) of twice that of the United States.
Within the United States, the suicide rate among African Americans has
jumped by 114% since 1980 [2], bringing it in-line for the first time with
the rate among American whites. This surge, ironically, has occurred at a
time of growing economic affluence among American blacks.
Parasuicide
Nearly half of suicides are preceded by an attempt at suicide that does not
end in death. Those with a history of such attempts are 100 times more
likely to eventually end their own lives.
A suicidal act that does not end in death is usually called a "suicide
attempt" or a "suicidal gesture". Some people prefer the use of the
neologism parasuicide, or describe such acts as "deliberate self-harm" -
both of these terms avoid the question of the intent of the action. The
epidemiology of parasuicides is quite different from that of successful
suicides. There are many more parasuicides than suicides. The vast majority
are female and aged under 35. They are rarely physically ill and while
psychological factors are highly significant, they are rarely clinically ill
and severe depression is uncommon. Social issues are key -- parasuicides are
most common among those living in overcrowded conditions, in conflict with
their families, with disrupted childhoods and history of drinking, criminal
behavior and violence. Individuals under these stresses become anxious and
depressed and then, usually in reaction to a single particular crisis, they
parasuicide. The motivation may be a desire for relief from emotional pain
or to communicate feelings, although the motivation will often be complex
and confused. Parasuicide may also result from an inner conflict between the
desire to end life and to continue living.
Suicide in history
Among the famous people who have committed suicide are Boudicca, Cleopatra
VII of Egypt, Hannibal, Nero, Adolf Hitler, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath,
Marina Tsvetaeva, and Vincent van Gogh.
In ancient times, suicide was sometimes committed after defeat in battle to
avoid capture and possible subsequent torture, mutilation, or enslavement by
the enemy. The Caesarian assassins Brutus and Cassius, for example,
committed suicide after their defeat at the battle of Philippi. Insurgent
Jews committed mass suicide at Masada in 74 AD rather than face enslavement
by the Romans.
In Roman society, suicide was an accepted means by which honor could be
preserved. Those charged with capital crimes, for example, could prevent
confiscation of their family's estate by taking their own lives before being
convicted in court. It was sardonically said of the emperor Domitian that
his way of showing mercy was to allow a condemned man to take his own life.
In the late 18th century, Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, (The
Sorrows of Young Werther), the romantic story of a young man who commits
suicide because his love proves unattainable, caused a wave of suicides in Germany.
Emile Durkheim, the founder of sociology, wrote a very famous study of
suicide in the late 1800s.
During World War II, Japenese units would often fight to the last man rather
than surrender. And towards the end of the war, the Japanese navy sent
kamikaze pilots to attack Allied ships. These tactics reflect the influence
of the samurai warrior culture, where seppuku was often required after a
loss of honor. It is also suggested that the Japanese treated Anglo-American
POWs harshly because, by surrendering rather than fighting to the last man,
these soldiers showed they were not worthy of honorable treatment in
Japanese eyes.
Albert Camus saw the goal of existentialism in establishing whether suicide
was necessary in a world without God.
A study of suicide in literature was written by the poet Al Alvarez,
entitled The Savage God.
Jean Amˇry, in his book On Suicide: a Discourse on Voluntary Death
(originally published in German in 1976), provides a moving insight into the
suicidal's mind. He argues forcefully and almost romantically that suicide
represents the ultimate freedom of humanity, attempting to justify the act
with phrases such as "we only arrive at ourselves in a freely chosen death",
lamenting the "ridiculously everyday life and its alienation". He committed
suicide in 1978.
Legal views of suicide
Ironically, the punishment for attempted suicide in some jurisdictions has
been death. Although a person who has successfully committed suicide might
be thought to be beyond the reach of the law, there could still be legal
consequences. For example, in the UK pre-1961 their estate was forfeit.
The United Kingdom abolished the crimes of suicide and attempted suicide in
the suicide act of 1961. By the early 1990s only two USA states still listed
suicide as a crime.
In many jurisdictions there are still laws against assisted suicide: helping
someone to commit suicide, directly or indirectly.
Religious views of suicide
Buddhism
According to Buddhism, our past heavily influences our present. Furthermore,
what an individual does in the present moment influences his or her future,
in this life or the next. This is cause and effect, as taught by Gautama
Buddha. Otherwise known as karma, intentional action by mind, body or speech
has a reaction and its repercussion is the reason behind the conditions and
differences we come across in the world.
One's suffering primarily originates from past negative deeds or just from
being in samsara (the cycle of birth and death). Another reason for the
prelvalent suffering we experience is due to impermanence. Since everything
is in a constant state of flux, we experience unsatisfactoriness with the
fleeting events of life. To break out of samsara, one simply must realize
their true nature, by Enlightenment in the present moment; this is Nirvana.
For Buddhists, since the first precept is to refrain from the destruction of
life (including oneself), suicide is clearly considered a negative form of
action. But despite this view, an ancient Asian ideology similar to seppuku
(hara-kiri) persists to influence Buddhists by, when under oppression,
commiting the act of "honorable" suicide. In modern times, Tibetan monks
have used this ideal in order to protest the Chinese occupation of Tibet and
Chinas supposed human rights violations against Tibetans.
Christianity
Christianity is traditionally opposed to suicide, and assisted suicide.
In Catholicism specifically, suicide has been considered a grave and
sometimes mortal sin. The chief Catholic argument is that one's life is the
property of God, and that to destroy one's own life is to wrongly assert
dominion over what is God's. This argument runs into a famous
counter-argument by David Hume, who noted that if it is wrong to take life
when a person would naturally live, it must be wrong to save life when a
person would naturally die, as this too seems to be contravening God's will.
On a different line, many Christians believe in the sanctity of human life,
a principle which, broadly speaking, says that all human life is sacred -- a
wonderful, even miraculous creation of the divine God -- and every effort
must be made to save and preserve it whenever possible.
Nevertheless, even while believing that suicide is generally wrong, liberal
Christians may well recognise that people who commit suicide are severely
distressed and so believe that the loving God of Christianity can forgive
such an act.
Hinduism
In Hinduism, murdering one's own body is considered equally sinful as
murdering another. However, under various circumstances it is considered
acceptable to end one's life by fasting. This practice, known as
prayopavesha, requires so much time and willpower that there is no danger of
acting on an impulse. It also allows time for the individual to settle all
worldly affairs, to ponder life and to draw close to God.
Interestingly, this behavior is also observed in animals.
Islam
Islam's attitude towards suicide is unambiguously negative- any person who
commits suicide will spend an eternity in Hell, re-enacting the act by which
they took their own lives.
Despite this, actions committed in the course of jihad that result in one's
own death are not considered suicide by Muslim jurists, even if by the
nature of the act death is assured (e.g. suicide bombing). Such acts are
instead considered a form of martyrdom.
Judaism
Judaism views suicide as one of the most serious of sins. Suicide has always
been forbidden by Jewish law, except for three specific cases. If one is
being forced by someone to commit murder, forced to commit an act of
idolatry, or forced to commit adultery or incest, then in those cases alone
would suicide be permissible. However, outside those cases, suicide is
forbidden, and this includes taking part of assisted suicide. One may not
ask someone to assist in killing themselves for two separate reasons: (a)
killing oneself is forbidden, and (b) one is then making someone else
accomplice to a sin.
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, the body of scholars of Jewish
law in Conservative Judaism, has published a teshuva on suicide and assisted
suicide in the summer 1998 issue of "Conservative Judaism" Vol. L, No.4. It
affirms the above stated prohibition, and then goes on to its real purpose
-- to counter the growing trend of Americans and Europeans who are asking
their friends and family to help kill themselves. As the Conservative
teshuva points out, many people get sick, often with terminal illnesses, but
most people don't try to commit suicide. So we are obligated to find out why
some people do ask for suicide, and we are then obligated to remove these
reasons so that people don't want to kill themselves in the first place.
The Conservative responsa states that:
"...those who commit suicide and those who aid others in doing so act
out of a plethora of motives. Some of these reasons are less than
noble, involving, for example, children's desires to see Mom or Dad die
with dispatch so as not to squander their inheritance on 'futile'
health care, or the desire of insurance companies to spend as little
money as possible on the terminally ill."
The paper discusses the fact that some patients want to die because they are
in pain, but they point out that the proper response to this is not suicide,
but simply better pain control and more pain medication. The paper then
points out that there is crisis in medical care of elderly and terminally
ill patients: Many doctors are deliberately keeping such patients in pain by
refusing to grant them adequete amounts of pain killers. Some do this out of
ignorance, others do it because they claim they want to avoid any
possibility of the patient becoming a drug addict. Some doctors recommend a
stoic attitude. The position of Conservative Judaism holds that all such
forms of reasoning are "bizarre" and cruel. With today's medications, there
is no reason for people to be in this kind of perpetual torture.
It then investigates the psychological reasons for the hopelessness felt by
some patients. It points out that:
"Physicians or others asked to assist in dying should recognize that
people contemplating suicide are often alone, without anyone taking an
interest in their continued living. Rather than assist the patient in
dying, the proper response to such circumstances is to provide the
patient with a group of people who clearly and repeatedly reaffirm
their interest in the patient's continued life... Requests to die,
then, must be evaluated in the terms of degree of social support the
patient has, for such requests are often withdrawn as soon as someone
shows an interest in the patient staying alive. In this age of
individualism and broken and scattered families, and in the antiseptic
environment of hospitals where dying people usually find themselves,
the mitzvah of visiting the sick (bikkur Holim) becomes all the more
crucial in sustaining the will to live"
views of other religions: to be written
The Pro-Choice Argument
In contrast to the views above, there are also arguments in favour of
allowing an individual to choose between life and suicide. This view sees
suicide as a valid option.
This line rejects the widespread belief that suicide is always or usually
irrational, saying instead that it is a genuine, albeit severe, solution to
real problems -- a line of last resort that can legitimately be taken when
the alternative is considered worse.
Furthermore, the Pro-Choice position asserts, in the spirit of liberalism,
that a person's life belongs only to him or her, and nobody else should try
to enforce their own view that life must be lived on them. Rather, only the
individual involved can make such an important decision, and whatever
decision he or she does make, it should be respected.
