Suicide as Social Logic

Abstract

Although suicide is not viewed as a mental disorder per se, it is viewed by many if not most clinicians, researchers, and lay people as a real or natural symptom of depression. It is at least most typically seen as the unfortunate, severe, yet logical end result of a chain of negative self‐appraisals, negative events, and hopelessness. Extending an approach articulated by the early French sociologist Gabriel Tarde, in this paper I argue that suicide is merely an idea, albeit a very bad one, having more in common with societal beliefs and norms regarding such things as divorce, abortion, sex, politics, consumer behavior, and fashion. I make a sharp contrast between perturbation and lethality, concepts central to Edwin S. Shneidman's theory of suicide. Evidence supportive of suicide as an idea is discussed based on what we are learning from the study of history and culture, and about contagion/cluster phenomena, media/communication, and choice of method. It is suggested that certain individuals are more vulnerable to incorporate the idea and act of suicide into their concepts of self, based on the same principles by which ideas are spread throughout society. Just as suicide impacts on society, so does society impact on suicide.