1.
Copycat suicide
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A spike of emulation suicides after a widely publicized suicide is known as the Werther effect, following Goethes novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. The publicized suicide serves as a trigger, in the absence of protective factors and this is referred to as suicide contagion. They occasionally spread through a system, through a community, or in terms of a celebrity suicide wave. This is called a suicide cluster, suicide clusters are caused by the social learning of suicide-related behaviors, or copycat suicides. Point clusters are clusters of suicides in time and space, and have been linked to direct social learning from nearby individuals. Mass clusters are clusters of suicides in time but not space, to prevent this type of suicide, it is customary in some countries for the media to discourage suicide reports except in special cases. One of the earliest known associations between the media and suicide arose from Goethes novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, soon after its publication in 1774, young men began to mimic the main character by dressing in yellow pants and blue jackets. This resulted in the book being banned in several places, hence the term Werther effect, used in the technical literature to designate copycat suicides. The term was coined by researcher David Phillips in 1974, two centuries after Goethes novel was published, reports in 1985 and 1989 by Phillips and his colleagues found that suicides and other accidents seem to rise after a well-publicized suicide. People who are young or old – but not middle-aged – seem to be most susceptible to this effect, due to the effects of differential identification, the people who attempt to copy a suicidal act tend to have the same age and gender as the triggering suicide. These suicidal actions tend to happen in the days and sometimes weeks after a suicide is announced, in exceptional cases, such as a widely discussed suicide by a celebrity, an increased level of thinking about suicide may persist for up to one year. Copycat suicide is mostly blamed on the media, hearing about a suicide seems to make those who are vulnerable feel they have permission to do it, Phillips said. He cited studies that showed that people were likely to engage in dangerous deviant behavior, such as drug taking. The Werther effect not only predicts an increase in suicide, the more similar the person in the publicized suicide is to the people exposed to the information about it, the more likely the age group or demographic is to die by suicide. The increase generally happens only in areas where the story was highly publicized. Upon learning of someone elses suicide, some people decide that action may be appropriate for them as well, especially if the publicized suicide was of someone in a similar situation as them. People may see suicide as an ending, with the young person or elderly person getting a lot of attention, lots of sympathy. The second possible factor is that vulnerable youth may feel like, If they couldnt cut it, increased rate of suicides has been shown to occur up to ten days after a television report
2.
Euthanasia
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Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering. There are different euthanasia laws in each country, the British House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics defines euthanasia as a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering. In the Netherlands and Flanders, euthanasia is understood as termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient, Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is legal in some countries, non-voluntary euthanasia is illegal in all countries. Involuntary euthanasia is illegal in all countries and is usually considered murder. As of 2006, euthanasia is the most active area of research in contemporary bioethics, in some countries there is a divisive public controversy over the moral, ethical, and legal issues of euthanasia. Jurisdictions where euthanasia is legal include the Netherlands, Canada, Colombia, Belgium, like other terms borrowed from history, euthanasia has had different meanings depending on usage. Bacon referred to an outward euthanasia—the term outward he used to distinguish from a spiritual concept—the euthanasia which regards the preparation of the soul, in current usage, euthanasia has been defined as the painless inducement of a quick death. Another approach incorporates the notion of suffering into the definition, the third element incorporated into many definitions is that of intentionality – the death must be intended, rather than being accidental, and the intent of the action must be a merciful death. Beauchamp and Davidson also highlight Baruch Brodys an act of euthanasia is one in one person. Kills another person for the benefit of the person, who actually does benefit from being killed. Prior to Draper, Beauchamp and Davidson had also offered a definition that includes these elements and their definition specifically discounts fetuses in order to distinguish between abortions and euthanasia, In summary, we have argued. In discussing his definition, Wreen noted the difficulty of justifying euthanasia when faced with the notion of the right to life. In response, Wreen argued that euthanasia has to be voluntary, and that euthanasia is, as such. Other commentators incorporate consent more directly into their definitions, hence, euthanasia can be voluntary only. Euthanasia may be classified according to whether a person gives informed consent into three types, voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary, however, others see consent as essential. Euthanasia conducted with the consent of the patient is termed voluntary euthanasia, active voluntary euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Passive voluntary euthanasia is legal throughout the U. S. per Cruzan v. Director, when the patient brings about his or her own death with the assistance of a physician, the term assisted suicide is often used instead
3.
Assessment of suicide risk
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Suicide risk assessment is a process of estimating probability for a person to commit suicide. Risk for suicide is re-evaluated throughout the course of care to assess the response to personal situational changes. Some experts recommend abandoning suicide risk assessment as it is so inaccurate, in addition suicide risk assessment is often conflated with assessment of self-harm which has little overlap with completed suicide. An example of how to do this in practice was published in the Scientific American There are risks. Over-sensitivity to risk can have consequences, including inappropriate deprivation of patients rights. On the other hand, underestimating suicidality as a result of an attitude or lack of clinical skill jeopardizes patient safety. Some people may worry that asking about suicidal intentions will make more likely. In reality, regarding that the enquiries are made sympathetically, it does not, Suicide risk assessment should distinguish between acute and chronic risk. Bryan and Rudd suggest a model in which risk is categorized into one of four categories, Baseline, Acute, Chronic high risk, and Chronic high risk with acute exacerbation. Risk level can be described semantically e. g. as Nonexistent, Mild, Moderate, Severe, or Extreme, others urge use of numbers to describe level of relative or absolute risk of completed suicide. The Scale for Suicide Ideation was developed in 1979 by Aaron T. Beck, Maria Kovacs and it was developed for use by clinicians during semi-structured interviews. The scale contained 19 items rated on a scale from 0 to 2, the items could be grouped into three categories, Active Suicidal Desire, Preparation, and Passive Suicidal Desire. Initial findings showed promising reliability and validity, the Modified Scale for Suicide Ideation was developed by Miller et al. using 13 items from the SSI and 5 new items. The modifications increased both reliability and validity, the scale was also changed to range from 0 to 3, yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 54. Joiner found two factors, Suicidal Desire and Ideation, and Resolved Plans and Preparation, the MSSI was also shown to have higher discrimination between groups of suicide ideators and attempters than the BDI, BHS, PSI, and SPS. The Suicide Intent Scale was developed in order to assess the severity of suicide attempts, the scale consists of 15 questions which are scaled from 0-2, which take into account both the logistics of the suicide attempt as well as the intent. The scale has high reliability and validity, completed suicides ranked higher in the severity of the logistics than attempted suicides, and those with multiple attempts had higher scores than those who only attempted suicide once. Substantial empirical evidence was found, from four independent studies, confirming the importance of assessing suicidal affect, behaviors, the SABCS was shown to have higher internal reliability, and to be a better predictor of both future suicidal behaviors and total suicidality over an existing standard
4.
Crisis hotline
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A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. The first such service was founded in England in 1953 and such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the English speaking world at least since the mid-1970s, initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have expanded their mandate to deal more generally with emotional crises. Similar hotlines operate to help people in circumstances, including rape victims, bullying victims, runaway children, human trafficking victims. Such services began in 1953, when Chad Varah, an English vicar, founded The Samaritans service, the first Samaritans branch in the United States was established in Boston in 1974. In addition to Boston, there are currently Samaritan branches in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley, outside of Massachusetts, there are branches in New York City, Providence, Hartford, Albany, and Keene, New Hampshire. San Francisco Suicide Prevention started a hotline Call Bruce in 1962, a similar service, Lifeline, was established in Australia in 1963. Another service, the volunteer-run crisis helpline, Lifelink Samaritans Tas, the rationale was that people often become suicidal because they cannot discuss their emotional pain with family and friends. This service provides emotional support 24 hours a day to callers throughout Tasmania, the organisation is a member of Befrienders Worldwide and has a twinning relationship with Northampton Samaritans in the UK. Lifelink Samaritans is the oldest telephone befriending service in Tasmania and the fourth oldest in Australia, one criticism of suicide hotlines in the past was that those who were determined to kill themselves were unlikely to call one. Also, those with social anxiety may not have the resources to do so. Until recently, there was no evidence that the presence of suicide hotlines reduced the incidence of suicide, however, a 2007 study has suggested otherwise, as peoples thoughts of suicide decreased during a call to a crisis line, and were lessened for several weeks after their call. Research suggests that there are a group of callers who make multiple calls to crisis helplines. These callers are commonly known as frequent, chronic, multiple or repeat callers, a recent systematic review of research into frequent callers to crisis helplines found a need to further understand this group of callers and why they continue to use helplines. Some countries regulate the use of the term counselor, telephone counseling and crisis hotlines provide a similar telephone support service, and both usually accept crisis and non-crisis calls. In the United States, many college campuses have established telephone counseling lines serviced by student volunteers to compensate for the demand placed on college mental health services. These hotlines serve callers in crisis, but also serve to provide a listening ear for people who just need to talk, typically, hotlines are staffed by volunteers, and are not intended to replace professional, long-term counseling services. They are rather intended to carry callers through an immediate situation, such hotlines exist at the University of Maryland, the University of Minnesota, Tufts University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Drexel University, and Caldwell University. The term emotional support helpline is sometimes used – which does not imply crisis or counselling, such services have allowed for the wider dissemination of resources for people facing mental health crises
5.
Suicide prevention
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Suicide prevention is an umbrella term for the collective efforts of local citizen organizations, health professionals and related professionals to reduce the incidence of suicide. General efforts have included preventive and proactive measures within the realms of medicine and mental health, as well as public health, Suicide prevention is risky for health professionals in terms of practitioner emotional distress and risk for malpractice suits. Van Orden et al. posited that there are two major factors involved in suicide attempts, the first major factor is a desire for death and the second acquired capability. The acquired capability in this context is used because people naturally fear death, individuals who are suicidal often have tunnel vision about the situation and consider permanence of suicide as easy way out of a difficult situation. Other significant risk factors for suicide include psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, individuals who have good interpersonal social relationship and family support tend to have lower risk of suicide. People who have greater self-control, greater self-efficacy, intact reality-testing and those who are hopeful, having future plans or events to look forward to, and having satisfaction in life has normalized protective factors against suicide. In recognition of the need for comprehensive approaches to suicide prevention, while recent analyses suggest that suicide risk assessment does not work, the traditional approach has been to identify the risk factors that increase suicide or self-harm. The document calls for a public health approach to prevention, focusing on identifying patterns of suicide. Thus the American Association of Suicidology outlines 10 important suicide warning signs, listed below, Suicidal Ideation, thinking, talking, or writing about suicide, anxiety, agitation and unable to sleep or sleeping all the time. Social Withdrawal from friends, family, or society, Suicide gesture and suicidal desire are potentially self-injurious behaviors that a person may use to attain some other ends, like to seek help, punish others, or to receive attention. This behavior has the potential to aid an individual’s capability for suicide and can be considered as a suicide warning, Suicide prevention strategies focus on reducing the risk factors and intervening strategically to reduce the level of risk. Risk and protective factors, unique to the individual can be assessed by a mental health professional. Some of the strategies used to address are, Crisis intervention. Hospitalization for those with low adherence to collaboration for help and those who require monitoring & secondary symptom treatment, supportive therapy like substance abuse treatment, Psychotropic medication, Family psychoeducation and Access to emergency phone call care with emergency rooms, suicide prevention hotlines. etc. Restricting access to lethality of suicide means through policies and laws, creating & using crisis cards, An uncluttered card formatted readably that describes list of activities one should follow in crisis still the positive behavior responses settles in the personality. Registering with Support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, Suicide Bereavement Support Group, therapeutic recreational therapy that improves mood. Motivating self-care activities like physical exercises and meditative relaxation, many methods of intervention have been developed to intercede before suicide is attempted. The general methods include, direct talks, screening for risks, lethal means reduction, each is explained in more detail below
6.
Assisted suicide
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Assisted suicide is suicide committed with the aid of another person, sometimes a physician. Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland allow physicians to physically assist in the death of patients, Assisted suicide is prohibited by common law or criminal statute in all U. S. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are sometimes combined under the term assisted dying. Physician-assisted suicide is often confused with euthanasia, in cases of euthanasia the physician administers the means of death, usually a lethal drug. In physician-assisted suicide, it is required that the person voluntarily expresses his or her wish to die, physician-assisted suicide thus involves a person’s self-administration of deadly drugs that are supplied by a doctor. Due to the recent election November 8, there have many people debating the newly passed Colorado End of Life Options Act, the new law is usually compared to the Death With Dignity Act that has been in place in the state of Oregon for 20 years. While it passed by a vote of two thirds, that leaves one third of the states voters that did not wish to see it pass. A few common reasons that have come up, include, religious beliefs, fear of abuse, most supporters believe that it is their right to make this difficult decision on their own and wish to have the choice, despite opposing reasons. They view their choice for aid-in-dying as an end to their suffering, Medical decisions are personal and should be made by individuals and their families without interference from a third party—like the federal or state government. Libertarians strongly support AiD legislation for this reason, one argument for assisted suicide or medical aid in dying is that it reduces prolonged suffering in those with terminal illnesses. When death is imminent patients can choose to have aid in dying as an option to shorten an unbearable dying process. Washington vs. Glucksberg Assisted suicide is a controversial topic. In Washington, it did not become legal until 2008, in 1997, four Washington physicians, and three deathly ill patients brought forth a lawsuit that would challenge the ban on physician assisted suicide that was in place at the time. This lawsuit was first part of a court hearing, where it ruled in favor of Glucksberg. The lawsuit was then affirmed by the ninth circuit, thus, it was taken to the supreme court, and there the supreme court decided to grant Washington certiorari. Eventually, the court decided, with a unanimous vote. The laws and arguments on this topic are often argued and changed depending on legal evaluation and decision, a similar trend was found in Vermont, where AiD was authorized in 2013. In Oregon, in death rates are at the lowest in the nation, at home death rates are at the highest in the nation
7.
Suicide attack
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A suicide attack is a violent attack in which the attacker expects to die in the process. They constituted only 4% of all terrorist attacks around the world over one period, ninety per cent of those attacks occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Overall, as of mid-2015 about three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, the motivation of suicide attackers varies. Kamikaze acted under orders and were motivated by obedience and nationalism. Before 2003, most attacks targeted forces occupying the attackers homeland, anthropologist Scott Atran states that since 2004 the overwhelming majority of bombers have been motivated by the ideology of Islamist martyrdom. Academic Fred Halliday, has written that assigning the descriptor of terrorist or terrorism to the actions of a group is a used by states to deny legitimacy and rights to protest. The definition of suicide is another issue, Suicide terrorism itself has been defined by one source as violent actions perpetrated by people who are aware that the odds they will return alive are close to zero. It may not always be clear to investigators which type of killing is which, the usage of the term suicide attack goes back a long way but suicide bombing dates back to at least 1940 when a New York Times article mentions the term in relation to German tactics. Less than two years later that newspaper referred to a Japanese kamikaze attempt on an American carrier as a suicide bombing, sometimes, to assign either a more positive or negative connotation to the act, suicide bombing is referred to by different terms. Istishhad Islamist supporters often call a suicide attack Istishhad, and the suicide attacker shahid, the idea being that the attacker died in order to testify his faith in God, for example while waging jihad bis saif. The term suicide is never used because Islam has strong strictures against taking ones own life, the terms Istishhad/martyrdom operation have been embraced by the Palestinian Authority, and by Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah and other Palestinian factions. The first to use the term for an audience was White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in April 2002. The only major media outlets to use it are Fox News Channel, Fox News producer Dennis Murray argued that a suicidal act should be reserved for a person who does something to kill themselves only. CNN Producer Christa Robinson argued that the term homicide bomber reflects only that you have killed other people, sacrifice bombing In the German-speaking area the term sacrifice bombing was proposed in 2012 by German scholar Arata Takeda. The term is intended to shift the focus away from the suicide of the perpetrators, until the second half of the twentieth century most suicide attacks occurred in a military context. The first recorded suicide attack came from Christian soldiers during the Crusades to free The Holy City of Jerusalem from the control of Muslim armies. During the Crusades, the Knights Templar destroyed one of their own ships with 140 Christians on board in order to kill 10 times as many Muslims in the opposing fleet. The 1st Century AD Jewish Sicarii sect are thought to have out carried suicidal attacks against Hellenized Jews they considered immoral collaborators
8.
Suicide methods
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A suicide method is any means by which a person completes suicide, purposely ending their life. Suicide by exsanguination involves reducing the volume and pressure of the blood to below critical levels by inducing massive blood loss and it is usually the result of damage inflicted on arteries. The carotid, radial, ulnar or femoral arteries may be targeted, death may occur directly as a result of the desanguination of the body or via hypovolemia, wherein the blood volume in the circulatory system becomes too low and results in the body shutting down. Persons considering a suicide attempt, or trying out the weapon to ascertain its effectiveness, may first make shallow cuts and they are often non-lethal, multiple parallel cuts. As in any class IV hemorrhage, aggressive resuscitation is required to prevent death of the patient, Suicide by drowning is the act of deliberately submerging oneself in water or other liquid to prevent breathing and deprive the brain of oxygen. Due to the natural tendency to come up for air. As the level of carbon dioxide in the victims blood rises, the nervous system sends the respiratory muscles an involuntary signal to contract. Death usually occurs as the level of oxygen becomes too low to sustain the brain cells and it is among the least common methods of suicide, typically accounting for less than 2% of all reported suicides in the United States. Suicide by suffocation is the act of inhibiting ones ability to breathe or limiting oxygen uptake while breathing, causing hypoxia and this may involve an exit bag or confinement in an enclosed space without oxygen. These attempts involve using depressants to make the pass out due to the oxygen deprivation before the instinctive panic. Even if one is able to overcome this response to the point of becoming unconscious, in condition, its no longer possible to control breathing. Because of this, one is likely to commit suicide through gas inhalation than attempting to prevent breathing all together. Suicide by hypothermia, is a death that goes through several stages. Hypothermia begins with mild symptoms, gradually leading to moderate and severe penalties and this may involve shivering, delirium, hallucinations, lack of coordination, sensations of warmth, then finally death. Ones organs cease to function, though clinical brain death can be delayed, Suicide by electrocution involves using a lethal electric shock to kill oneself. This causes arrhythmias of the heart, meaning that the heart does not contract in synchrony between the different chambers, essentially causing elimination of blood flow, furthermore, depending on the amount of electric current, burns may also occur. This method, in most cases, results in severe consequences if the attempt fails, such as paralysis, organ damage, in the United States, jumping is among the least common methods of committing suicide. In Hong Kong, jumping is the most common method of committing suicide, accounting for 52. 1% of all reported cases in 2006
9.
Suicide bag
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A suicide bag, also known as an exit bag or hood, is a euthanasia device consisting of a large plastic bag with a drawcord used to commit suicide through inert gas asphyxiation. This method also makes the direct cause of difficult to trace if the bag. Suicide bags were first used during the 1990s, the method was mainly developed in North America. Self-administered and assisted suicides by asphyxiation using a bag with helium were first recorded in the 1990s. Since the 2000s, guides have spread on the internet, in print and on video, the suicide bag with inert gas method was originally developed by John Hofsess and the NuTech group, which consisted of Hofsess, Derek Humphry, engineers and physicians. In the book Final Exit by Derek Humphry, a bag was described as a large plastic bag with an adjustable velcro strip around the neck. Its use with inert gases was mentioned in the Supplement to Final Exit in 2000, the pro-euthanasia group Exit Australia distributed a manufactured version of the bag in Australia in 2002, alarming government officials and pro-life groups. The Australian chapter of Right to Life expressed concern that they would be used by vulnerable people, however, he said that he has no way of knowing if the method was being used by people with terminal illness or by people who are mentally ill. In 2008, Ludwig Minelli, founder of Dignitas, filmed four people committing suicide by helium inhalation, subsequent to this, the method has been winning supporters both in the USA and in Europe as a reliable, rapid and painless way to die. Nitschkes organisation sells suicide kits that contain nitrogen tanks and regulators for A$690, dutch psychiatrist Boudewijn Chabot, in his 2015 book Dignified Dying, calls the suicide bag with inert gas method rapid, painless and safe. It is not illegal to own a suicide bag in any jurisdiction, selling suicide bags is prohibited in some places. In 2011, the FBI raided a small business in California. In July 2011, this raid caused Oregon to be the first US state to pass legislation prohibiting the sale of kits containing suicide bags or hoods, canadian right-to-die advocates stopped shipping suicide bags to Australia in 2001, when the Australian government announced that it would review their importation. In 2002, the Queensland Police in Australia said that suicide bags did not violate any laws at that time, suicides using bags or masks and gases are well documented in the literature. Suicide bags have been used with other than inert gases. Examples of other gases are propane-butane and natural gas, suicides using a suicide bag and an inert gas produce no characteristic post-mortem macroscopic or microscopic findings. Forensic death investigations of cause and manner of death may be difficult when people commit suicide in this manner. Petechiae, which are considered a marker of asphyxia, are present in only a small minority of cases
10.
Suicide by hanging
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Suicide by hanging is the act of intentionally killing oneself via suspension from an anchor-point or ligature point by a ligature or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered to be a suicide method that does not require complicated techniques. However, a study of people who attempted suicide by hanging and it is one of the most commonly used suicide methods and has a high mortality rate, Gunnell et al. gives a figure of at least 70 percent. The materials required are easily available, and a range of ligatures can be used. Therefore, it is considered a method to prevent. Hanging is divided into suspension hanging and the much rarer drop hanging, ron M. Brown writes that hanging has a fairly imperspicuous and complicated symbolic history. There are commentaries on hanging in antiquity, and it has various cultural interpretations, throughout history, numerous famous people have committed suicide by hanging. According to Anton J. L. van Hooff, hanging was the most common method in primitive. In England and Wales, hanging is the most commonly used method and it is the second most common method among women, behind poisoning. In 1981 hanging accounted for 23.5 percent of male suicides, the proportion of hangings as suicides in 2005 among women aged 15–34 was 47.2 percent, having risen from 5.7 percent in 1968. In the United States it is the second most common method, behind firearms, hanging accounts for a greater percentage of suicides among younger Americans than among older ones. Differences exist among ethnic groups, research suggests that hanging is the most common method among Chinese and Japanese Americans, hanging is also a frequently used method for those in custody, in several countries. In general, there are two ways of performing suicide by hanging, suspension hanging and drop hanging, manual strangulation and suffocation may also be considered together with hanging. In addition to rope, other materials can easily be fashioned into an improvised noose e. g. a bed-sheet, ripped T-shirt, shoelaces or telephone extension cable. Regardless of the used to form the noose, suspension hanging will kill its victims in three ways, compression of the carotid arteries, the jugular veins, or the airway. About 11 lb of pressure is required to compress the carotid artery,4.4 lb for the jugular veins, the amount of time it takes to lose consciousness and die is difficult to predict accurately and depends on several factors. Some believe unconsciousness occurs in five seconds, though Alan Gunn writes that it takes longer. It took a man who filmed his hanging 13 seconds to become unconscious,1 minute and 38 seconds to lose muscle tone, full suspension is not required, most hanging suicides are done by partial suspension, according to Wyatt et al
11.
Suicide by cop
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There are two broad categories of suicide by cop. The first is when someone has committed a crime and is being pursued by the police and these people may not otherwise be suicidal but may simply decide that life is not worth living if they are incarcerated and thus will provoke police to kill them. The second version involves people who are contemplating suicide and who decide that provoking law enforcement into killing them is the best way to act on their desires. These individuals may commit a crime with the intention of provoking a law enforcement response. The idea of committing suicide in this manner is based on trained procedures of law enforcement officers, in jurisdictions where officials are readily capable of deadly force, there are usually set circumstances where they will predictably use deadly force against a threat to themselves or others. This form of functions by exploiting this trained reaction. The most common scenario is pointing a firearm at an officer or an innocent person. However, many variants exist, for example, attacking with a knife or other weapon, trying to run an officer or other person over with a car. This entire concept hinges on the state of mind, and their desire to end their own life. Some cases are obvious, such as pointing an unloaded or non-functioning gun at officers, some suspects brazenly announce their intention to die before they act. However, many cases can be difficult to determine, as some suspects with the desire to die will actually fire live ammunition. Many law enforcement training programs have added sections to specifically address handling these situations if officers suspect that the subject is attempting to goad them into using lethal force. Many modern cases that pre-date the formal recognition of the phenomenon have been identified or speculated by historians as matching the pattern now known as suicide by cop. The 1976 death of Mal Evans, road manager, assistant, and a friend of The Beatles, the phenomenon has been described in news accounts from 1981, and scientific journals since 1985. The phrase has appeared in news headlines since at least 1987 and it did not become common until the early 2000s. The phrase seems to have originated in the United States, but has appeared in the UK. Some of the first research into suicide by cop was completed by Sgt, rick Parent of the Delta Police Department. Parents research of 843 police shootings determined that about 50% were victim precipitated homicide, the first formally labeled Suicide by Cop case in English legal history was a judgment made by the Reverend Dr. William Dolman while serving as a London coroner between 1993 and 2007
12.
Seppuku
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Seppuku, sometimes metathesized as harakiri which is a native Japanese kun reading, is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai, if the cut, done with a movement, is done deep enough, it sections, cuts, the descending Aorta, inducing a massive blood loss inside the abdomen, with very fast death. A Japanese form of suicide, the term seppuku derives from the two Sino-Japanese roots setsu 切 and puku 腹. It is also known as harakiri, a more widely familiar outside Japan, and which is written with the same kanji as seppuku. In Japanese, the more formal seppuku, a Chinese onyomi reading, is used in writing, while harakiri. Ross notes, It is commonly pointed out that hara-kiri is a vulgarism, hara-kiri is a Japanese reading or Kun-yomi of the characters, as it became customary to prefer Chinese readings in official announcements, only the term seppuku was ever used in writing. So hara-kiri is a term, but only to commoners and seppuku a written term. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of ones master, known as oibara or tsuifuku, the word jigai means suicide in Japanese. The usual modern word for suicide is jisatsu, in some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with suicide of samurai wives. The term was introduced into English by Lafcadio Hearn in his Japan, An Attempt at Interpretation, joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term jigai to be the female equivalent of seppuku. The first recorded act of seppuku was performed by Minamoto no Yorimasa during the Battle of Uji in the year 1180. Seppuku eventually became a key part of bushido, the code of the warriors, it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands. Samurai could also be ordered by their daimyo to carry out seppuku, later, disgraced warriors were sometimes allowed to carry out seppuku rather than be executed in the normal manner. This way the head could, both metaphorically and literally, rest in its owners hands and those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to carry out seppuku. Samurai generally could carry out the act only with permission, sometimes a daimyo was called upon to perform seppuku as the basis of a peace agreement. This would weaken the defeated clan so that resistance would effectively cease, toyotomi Hideyoshi used an enemys suicide in this way on several occasions, the most dramatic of which effectively ended a dynasty of daimyo. Until this practice became more standardized during the 17th century, the ritual of seppuku was less formalized. In the 12th and 13th centuries, such as with the seppuku of Minamoto no Yorimasa, seppukus defining characteristic was plunging either the Tachi, Wakizashi or Tanto into the gut and slicing the abdomen horizontally
13.
Epidemiology of suicide
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An estimated 1 million people worldwide take their lives by suicide every year. It is estimated that global annual suicide fatalities could rise to 1.5 million by 2020, worldwide, suicide ranks among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15–44 years. Suicide attempts are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicides, incidence of suicide in a society depends on a range of factors. Clinical depression is a common cause. Substance abuse, severe physical disease or infirmity are also recognized causes, the countries of the Eastern Europe and East Asia have the highest suicide rate in the world. The region with the lowest suicide rate is Latin America, in most countries the incidence of suicides is higher than the incidence of intentional homicides. A2006 report by the World Health Organisation states that nearly a million people take their own lives every year, WHO figures show a suicide takes place somewhere in the world roughly every 40 seconds. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, suicide contagion is a serious problem, suicide rates are highest in Europes Baltic states, where around 40 people per 100,000 die by suicide each year. The lowest rates are mainly in Caribbean/West Indies nations and a few countries in Asia. In western countries men commit suicide at four times the rate of women, women are more likely to attempt suicide than men. The countries of the former Soviet Bloc have the highest suicide rate in the world, rate of suicide in South Korea is the highest among any other East Asian countries. The region with the lowest suicide rate is Latin America, china is the only country in the world where the rate of suicide by women matches that of men, with statistics even showing a slightly higher number of female cases. In the United States, males are four times more likely to die by suicide than females, male suicide rates are higher than females in all age groups. In other western countries, males are much more likely to die by suicide than females. It was the 8th leading cause of death for males, excess male mortality from suicide is also evident from data from non-Western countries. In 2003, in the United States, whites and Asians were nearly 2.5 times more likely to themselves than were blacks or Hispanics. There is a marked divergence by age as seen in the chart below, in the eastern portion of the world the numbers of reported suicides is growing every year. The likelihood of suicide attempts are increased in both gay males and lesbians, as well as bisexuals of both sexes when compared to their heterosexual counterparts
14.
Youth suicide
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Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below age 21, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of attempted and completed youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high, Youth suicide attempts are more common among girls, but adolescent males are the ones who usually carry out suicide. Suicide rates in youths have nearly tripled between the 1960s and 1980s, based on a survey done on American high school students, 16% reported considering suicide and 8% reported attempting suicide sometime within the 12 months before taking the survey. Between 1980 and 1994, the rates of young black males doubled. American Indians and Alaska Natives commit suicide at a higher rate than any ethnic group in the United States. In India, one-third of suicides are young people 15–29, in 2002,154,000 suicides were recorded in India. Adolescents show certain signs indicate that they are suicidal. Suicidal teens tend to show a change in their eating habits, sleeping habits. They also isolate themselves from friends and family and usually turn towards bad decision making such as showing violent behavior and abusing drugs, an important sign that most of the suicidal youth shows is a loss of interest in many things. The Commission terms this suicide contagion and makes recommendations as to the importance of safeguarding young people. One of the problems is getting psychiatric counseling when its needed, in teenagers, depression is considered a major - if not the leading - cause of teen suicide. Factors and risks contributed to youth suicide are academic pressure, alcohol consumption, the loss of a relationship, frequent change of residency. Gay teens or those unsure of their identity are more likely to commit suicide. In the United States, about 60 percent of suicides are carried out with a gun so risk of suicide increases in households with a firearm, in Canada, almost 300 young people take their lives each year. Some Aboriginal teens and gay or lesbian teens are at risk, depending on their community. Several campaigns have started to give them hope and help them to feel less isolated. It Gets Better Born This Way Lack of impulse control has been found to differentiate adolescent suicide attempters from a group of adolescents with an acute illness. Adolescent exposure to suicide through classmates has caused researches to hypothesize suicide as a contagion and they note how a child’s exposure to suicide predicts suicide ideation and attempts
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History of suicide
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Attitudes toward suicide have varied through time and across cultures. In general, the world, both Roman and Greek, had a relaxed attitude towards the concept of suicide. The Council of Arles in 452 stated if a slave commits suicide no reproach shall fall upon his master. In the Middle Ages, the Church had drawn-out discussions on the edge where the search for martyrdom was suicidal, there are some precursors of Christian hostility to suicide in ancient Greek thinkers. Aristotle also condemned suicide, though for different, far more practical reasons. In Rome, suicide was never a general offense in law and it was specifically forbidden in three cases, those accused of capital crimes, soldiers and slaves. The reason behind all three was the same - it was uneconomic for these people to die, the suicide of a soldier was treated on the same basis as desertion. If a slave killed himself or herself within six months of purchase, the Romans, however, fully approved of what might be termed patriotic suicide, death, in other words, as an alternative to dishonor. For the Stoics, a sect which originated in Greece, death was a guarantee of personal freedom. And so it was for Cato the Younger, who killed himself after the Pompeian cause was defeated at the Battle of Thapsus and this was a virtuous death, one guided by reason and conscience. A very definite line was drawn by the Romans between the virtuous suicide and suicide for entirely private reasons and they disapproved of Mark Antony not because he killed himself, but that he killed himself for love. In the Middle Ages, the Christian church excommunicated people who attempted suicide, additionally, all of the persons property was confiscated. it will be a pious and holy action”. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, loopholes were invented to avoid the damnation that was promised by most Christian doctrine as a penalty of suicide, one famous example of someone who wished to end their life but avoid the eternity in hell was Christina Johansdotter. She was a Swedish murderer who killed a child in Stockholm with the purpose of being executed. She is an example of those who seek suicide through execution by committing a murder, the secularisation of society that began during The Enlightenment questioned traditional religious attitudes toward suicide to eventually form the modern perspective on the issue. David Hume denied that suicide was a crime as it affected no one and was potentially to the advantage of the individual. ”A shift in public opinion at large can also be discerned, The Times in 1786 initiated a debate on the motion “Is suicide an act of courage. ”By the 19th-century. By 1879, English law began to distinguish between suicide and homicide, although suicide still resulted in forfeiture of estate, in 1882, the deceased were permitted daylight burial in England and by the mid 20th century, suicide had become legal in much of the western world. In ancient times, suicide sometimes followed defeat in battle, to capture and possible subsequent torture, mutilation
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Suicide in antiquity
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Suicide was a widespread occurrence in antiquity. There were many different forms used and many different reasons for committing suicide, because taking one’s own life is morally confrontational, there are many different viewpoints on suicide. These viewpoints, although some may consider them modern, took root in ancient times, the Oxford English Dictionary places the first occurrence of the word in 1651. However suicide was seen with much disgust, therefore many did not put the word in their dictionaries and they used phrases like “self-murder”, “self-killing”, and “self-slaughter” in place of suicide. They felt these phrases more appropriately portrayed how closely it related to murder, because suicide was believed to be closely related to murder, many worry about the welfare of the soul for one who has committed suicide. This became a religious question, and there are many different religious views of suicide. Eventually, many scientists and doctors considered suicide as a possible illness, the doctors began assuming people only committed suicide when they were mentally ill. There were advantages to claiming it as a medical problem, instead of condemning the person and looking down on their families, sympathy became the response. “The act was eventually decriminalized, the suicide could now be buried and his family was no longer disinherited. However, with these advantages came some disadvantages as well and this referred to the fact that the more people began to recognize suicide as a mental illness, the more they turned away from the idea of it being a morally wrong action or a religious question. Today the reasons for suicide are many, and the ways to achieve it are broad, in earlier eras, some found it to be the only way to redeem them from failure. Elise Garrison said that many ancient suicidal victims, “ determined to regain lost honor, Garrison also refers to the works of Émile Durkheim. She says that Durkheim talks about people being in different types and categories, determining what category they are in, could decide the reason they would commit suicide. “Durkheim’s categories —egoistic, altruistic, anomic, fatalistic”, Durkheim explains that egoistic people over think and reflect on everything. They tend to have knowledge, and don’t integrate into society well. Protestants, for example, may default to an egoistic personality, the altruistic person devalues themselves and treats the opinion of the group very highly. Those who lead a very strict life-style or are a religion that is very strict on obedience, self-sacrifice is considered part of altruistic suicide. Anomic suicide can result from someone who does not control or limit their desires and they satisfy every desire, and have no regulation
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Banzai charge
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A banzai charge is the term used by the Allied forces to refer to Japanese human wave attacks mounted by infantry units. This term came from the Japanese cry Tennōheika Banzai, shortened to banzai, the banzai charge is considered to be one method of gyokusai, a suicide attack, or suicide before being captured by the enemy such as seppuku. The origin of the term is a classical Chinese phrase in the 7th-century Book of Northern Qi, in Japan, since the Sengoku period, samurai followed the code called bushido, defining behaviors loyal and honorable. Among the rules there existed a code of honor that was used by Japanese military governments. During the Siege of Port Arthur human wave attacks were conducted on Russian artillery, since the Japanese suffered massive casualties in the attacks, one description of the aftermath was that thick, unbroken mass of corpses covered the cold earth like a coverlet. During the war period, the Japanese militarist government began disseminating propaganda that romanticized suicide attack, the Japanese government presented war as purifying, with death defined as a duty. By the end of 1944, the government announced the last protocol, unofficially named ichioku gyokusai, for the purpose of resisting opposition forces until August 1945. During the U. S. raid on Makin Island, on August 17,1942, the Japanese defenders then launched a banzai charge with rifles and swords but were stopped by superior American firepower. The pattern was repeated in additional attacks, but with similar results, infantry, who lost almost 650 men. Banzai charges were always of dubious effectiveness, in the early stages of the Pacific War, a sudden banzai charge might overwhelm small groups of enemy soldiers unprepared for such an attack. At best they were conducted by groups of surviving soldiers when the battle was already lost. At worst they threw away valuable resources in men and arms in suicidal attacks which only hastened defeat
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Kamikaze
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During World War II, about 3,862 kamikaze pilots died, and about 19% of kamikaze attacks managed to hit a ship. Kamikaze aircraft were essentially pilot-guided explosive missiles, purpose-built or converted from conventional aircraft, a kamikaze could sustain damage which would disable a conventional attacker and still achieve its objective. The goal of crippling or destroying large numbers of Allied ships, particularly aircraft carriers, was considered by the Empire of Japan to be a just reason for sacrificing pilots and these attacks, which began in October 1944, followed several critical military defeats for the Japanese. They had long since lost aerial dominance due to outdated aircraft, Japan suffered from a diminishing capacity for war, and a rapidly declining industrial capacity relative to the Allies. Japan was also losing pilots faster than it could train their replacements, in combination, these factors, coupled with the unwillingness to surrender, led to the use of kamikaze tactics as Allied forces advanced towards the Japanese home islands. While the term usually refers to the aerial strikes, it has also been applied to various other suicide attacks. The Japanese military also used or made plans for non-aerial Japanese Special Attack Units, including those involving submarines, human torpedoes, speedboats, the tradition of death instead of defeat, capture, and perceived shame was deeply entrenched in Japanese military culture. It was one of the traditions in the samurai life. The Japanese word kamikaze is usually translated as divine wind, in Japanese, the formal term used for units carrying out suicide attacks during 1944–1945 is tokubetsu kōgeki tai, which literally means special attack unit. This is usually abbreviated to tokkōtai, more specifically, air suicide attack units from the Imperial Japanese Navy were officially called shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai. Shinpū is the on-reading of the characters that form the word kamikaze in Japanese. As a result, the attack units are sometimes known in Japan as kamikaze tokubetsu kōgeki tai. Axell and Kase see these suicides as individual, impromptu decisions by men who were prepared to die. The case of Nikolai Gastellos taran on 26 June 1941 passed into Soviet air-warfare lore, in most cases, little evidence exists that such hits represented more than accidental collisions of the kind that sometimes happen in intense sea or air battles. One example of this occurred on 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor, First Lieutenant Fusata Iidas plane had taken a hit and had started leaking fuel when he apparently used it to make a suicide attack on Naval Air Station Kaneohe. Before taking off, he had told his men that if his plane were to become badly damaged he would crash it into an enemy target. During 1943–1944, U. S. forces steadily advanced toward Japan, newer U. S. -made planes, especially the Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair, began to outnumber and outclass Japans fighter planes. Tropical diseases, as well as shortages of parts and fuel
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Suicide note
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A suicide note or death note is a message left behind before a person has committed suicide, or who intends to commit suicide. It is estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note, according to Gelder, Mayou and Geddes one in six leaves a suicide note. The content can be a plea for absolution or blaming family, however, incidence rates may depend on ethnicity, method of suicide, and cultural differences, and may reach rates as high as 50% in certain demographics. A suicide message can be a note, an audio message. Some fields of study, such as sociology, psychiatry and graphology, have investigated the reasons why people who commit suicide leave a note, to increase the pain of survivors by attempting to create guilt. To set out the reason for suicide, to express thoughts and feelings that the person felt unable to express in life. To give instructions for disposal of the remains, occasionally, to confess acts of murder or some other offence. He left a note denouncing them and his own nephew and heir to the leadership of his party, korechika Anami—I-with my death-humbly apologize to the Emperor for the great crime. Historians are divided as to what crime he was referring to and it is possibly a reference to his part in the aborted coup against the Emperor Hirohito in the hours following Japans decision to surrender at the end of World War II. Roger Angleton—murderer and brother of famous bookmaker Robert Angleton, clara Blandick—American film actress, most famous for playing Aunt Em in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Her note began, I am now about to make the great adventure, eustace Budgell—English writer, What Cato did, and Addison approved, cannot be wrong. Leslie Cheung—Hong Kong actor and musician who suffered from clinical depression, christine Chubbuck—American anchor of WXLT TV who committed suicide during a newscast. The note is addressed to his imaginary friend, and gives his reasons for leaving Nirvana, followed by a message to his wife, Courtney Love. The note made reference to Freddie Mercury and famously quoted Hey Hey, ida Craddock—Facing prison in 1902 for sending through the U. S. Ian Curtis—Lead singer of Joy Division. In the early hours of 18 May 1980, Curtis hanged himself in the kitchen of his house at 77 Barton Street and he had just viewed Werner Herzogs film Stroszek and listened to Iggy Pops The Idiot. Adam Czerniaków—head of the Judenrat in the Warsaw Ghetto and he refused to help round up Jews and committed suicide on July 23,1942 by swallowing a cyanide pill, a day after the commencement of mass extermination of Jews known as the Grossaktion Warsaw. He left his wife a note read, They are demanding that I kill the children of my people with my own hands. There is nothing for me to do but to die and his other note to one to his fellow members of the Judenrat, explained, I can no longer bear all this
