Reports of suicide date back as far as the first century. Psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists’ study various reason as to why suicide could occur and still have not come to the conclusion of if it can be controlled. It has been deemed nearly impossible to pin down all of the causes of suicide. There are countless independent variables that complicate the study and experiments on suicide.
In ancient Rome and Greece, suicide was considerably acceptable and justified. The act was only forbidden to slaves and soldiers due to economic considerations and a patriotic understanding. It was common for someone to choose death over dishonor, decrepitude, suffering due to an incurable illness, or if life generally just became unbearable. Suicide became so popular among early Christians that it threatened the existence of the church. In the fourth century, AD, the development of a suicide prohibition declared the act a mortal sin.
In the Middle Ages, suicide was considered the product of diabolical temptation. When the body of a person whom committed suicide was discovered, hideous penalties were imposed on the dead body, the estates of the person was confiscated, and Christian burial was unauthorized.
During the Renaissance, the attitude towards suicide began to vary, but was still valued a sin for many religious people. Permissible examples for suicide resurfaced, including excessive amounts of pain, or fear of a more horrific death. The debate arose on whether or not suicide was an act of courage. Suicide was a high topic of conversation and open to opinion and opposition.
In the 19th Century, England’s coroners’ juries indicated that individuals are sane until the actual moment of taking their life. During this time, religious sanctions for suicide were deserted. Decriminalizing suicide was slow until England and Wales had adopted the Suicide Act of 1961, which removed the drastic penalties for suicide and attempted suicide. Assisted suicide remains a crime throughout the United Kingdom.
There have been thousands of research studies performed, books written, and conferences held since the 1930s. In 1935, the Voluntary Euthanasia Society had been formed in Europe, which is the first known right-to-die organization in the world. Suicide is a perpetuating topic that develops overwhelming amounts of concern. Acts of suicide cannot be prevented for numerous reasons, from psychological to sociological, as well as religious and political climates.
To continue, religious suicides have prevailed throughout history since the beginning of time as we have recorded. Religious suicides are most common among cults and usually result in a large number of casualties. Cults tend to have very drastic and outlandish beliefs but are very persuasive and persistent in getting their message across to their target audience. The unity among the members of these groups are so strong and closely relate to the phrase: “all for one, and one for all”. Individuals act for the benefit of the group, and the group acts for the benefit of each individual.
One of the most notable religious suicides is the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide that took place in San Diego, California, 1979. The mass suicide consumed the lives of thirty-nine people of varying ages. They were all wearing matching dark clothing and Nike sneakers. The leader of Heaven’s Gate preached that suicide would allow them to leave their skin suits behind and enter an alien spacecraft that was traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet. The group preached sexual abstinence, and a few had even undergone castration procedures. As Hale-Bopp reached its closest distance to Earth, the followers, along with the leaders, drank a lethal combination of phenobarbital and vodka.
Throughout history, death by suicide in specific situations was an act of honor and pride. Most notably, in India during times or war, women exclusively, practiced “Jauhar”. The word “Jauhar” is derived from the Sanskrit words “jau”, meaning “life”, and “har” meaning “defeat”. Suicide was preferable over capture or slaughter by the enemy. On the night before a battle, and a certain defeat, Rajput women would put on their wedding clothes, hold their children, and jump into pits of fire as priests chanted. Flames were considered a purifier in this culture. When the women jumped into the flames is was thought that they were then purified, and the royal bloodline would stay clean and not be polluted through enslavement and rape. The morning of the battle, the men would then mark their foreheads with the ashes of their wives and children. One of the oldest records of Jauhar took place during the invasion of Alexander the Great. A town in Northern India bearing 200,000 inhabitants abandoned hope after learning about the oncoming Macedonians and set the whole town on fire and bore themselves into the flames. They refused to risk capture and enslavement, torture and mortal punishment.
The most historic and revolutionary Jauhar occurred in the 14th century. Sultan Alauddin Khilj led the siege of Chittorgarh Fort, and thousands of Rajput women vowed to the example of queen Pakmavati and killed themselves before the fort fell. This was deemed exemplary behavior for women. The legend of Queen Padmavati, was said to have committed Jauhar when the Sultan decided to take her fort because he wanted the queen for himself after hearing tales of her overbearing beauty. The queen had kept her honor by out-smarting the Sultan and keeping her honor and virtue through the ultimate sacrifice, which made her the role model for women of the Rajput culture.
The Peoples Temple is known for the tragic event at Jonestown, Guyana, that overtook the lives of an estimated 911 members of the Jonestown community in addition to Congressman Leo Ryan and his entourage. Peoples Temple actively encouraged integration, which was out of the ordinary in the seemingly segregated 1950s. Conflict spurred with government officials and family members grew uncertain about the lives of their loved ones and events that were taking place within the community. A meeting that did not go well between the leader of Peoples Temple and the news media provoked by Leo Ryan, led to the entourage being gunned while trying to leave. Jim Jones and other leaders of the community decided that the people would not be able to escape persecution. All members of Peoples Temple were gathered for a mass suicide and those who disagreed were shot by guards or coerced into drinking a mixture of potassium cyanide and tranquilizers. The circumstances of that day may have made the option of suicide more attractive and likely than that of government persecution.
Cults prefer to recruit productive and intelligent individuals. In most cases cults are looking for people that can serve some sort of contribution to the cause. Members do not generally have any psychological or physical issues. There tend to be situational elements that incline a person to join a cult. An individual may be lonely, looking for a sense of purpose, or uncertain how to proceed in life and are looking for guidance. Cults members may promise a better life, guidance, and are very persuasive. People generally need something to believe in and everyone has a different belief system. These systems of belief create a self-inclined sense of purpose and a reason for living, or for dying. The Heaven’s Gate cult created a fulfilling idea that their purpose was to leave their bodily containers to fulfill their destinies. When individuals begin to believe whole-heartedly in something, they are willing to give up almost anything to prove their dedication. Being surrounded by people that have similar beliefs strengthen the religious bonds.
To reiterate the evidence of religious ties to suicide, a suicide prohibition had to be developed because of the frequency of suicide among early Christians. There are no explicit biblical condemnations against suicide. The bible preaches faith and a promise of an eternal and inviting afterlife. Life on earth is of little value and simply a prelude to a more wonderful life. In the end, the one thing a person truly wants to believe is that they are retreating to a calmer place. If people believe a thing is real and act in accordance with that belief, the consequences of their actions are real.
Furthermore, sociological suicides occur due to how the individual has integrated into society. The sociological understanding pertaining to suicides state that there are four types of suicide; altruistic, anomic, egoistic, and fatalistic. Émile Durkheim argued that levels of social integration and regulation impact suicide rates. Durkheim’s studies state that the concentration should center on how the larger groups people reside in affect individual behavior.
Altruistic suicides occur as a result of too much integration, when the self is subsumed by the group norms. Altruism is a principle of unselfish regard for the interest and well-being of others above their own self-interest. The sociological concept of altruism studies the risk and endangerment of the health and wellbeing of individuals in particular societies. This type of suicide occurs when an individual’s involvement is too high within the social group. An example of this type of suicide is a sacrifice for a cult or religion when expectations from the group are met at a very high level.
Anomic suicides relate to a low degree of regulation and is carried out during periods of considerable stress and frustration. It was hypothesized that during anomic periods of deregulation or desires and suffering, people express their feelings and suicide rates increase.
Egoistic suicide is due to the individual being alone or an outsider and subsequently they see themselves alone with-in the world. These people have a low social interaction with others. This occurs in a society where there is overwhelming individualism and low social integration.
Fatalistic suicide is identified by excessive regulation and pervasive oppression. These individuals lose sense of their own individual self.
To follow, disagreements within the realm of politics and economics are proved to cause an inclination of suicide rates. Terrorism, extreme protestors, and unlawfulness are all components of political and economic suicides. Aristotle once stated that human slaves are simply living tools. Individuals have been using their bodies as the ultimate war machine universally. The media has reported more than five hundred suicide attacks around the world since 1980. People use their bodies as a tool to prove a point, entice war, and to end war.
As far back into history as first century Judea, Jewish Zealots had been using suicide terrorists against the Romans. Jewish Zealots were often seen walking up to Roman soldiers and pulling a knife on them, and often cutting the Roman’s throat, knowing that other Romans were around. Suicide terrorist attacks are not done in the purpose of dying, but to kill and intimidate. The goal is to spread a sense of fear in an attempt to force political change. Suicide bombers in particular tend to come from middle-class, well-educated families. They are recruited by secular, politically motivated extremist groups that are politically motivated and seeking change. These attacks are not enacted under impulse. Instead, they are strategically planned and extensively prepared over substantial periods of time. The attackers are likely to be more loyal to the group than to the cause itself, which is very similar to the relationship within cults. When terrorist attacks are carried out, suicides rates through the country typically drop due to a sense of unity and patriotism distilled in the people when a nation is under attack.
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