Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci. 2016 September; 10(3):e4544. doi: 10.17795/ijpbs-4544. Published online 2016 August 15. Commentaries Algorithm Characterization of Suicide: Introducing an Informative Categorization System Mohsen Rezaeian,1,* and Mehran Zarghami2,3 1Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Occupational Environmental Research Center, Rafsanjan Medical School, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, IR Iran 2Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Sari, IR Iran 3Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Addiction Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Sari, IR Iran *Corresponding author: Mohsen Rezaeian, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Occupational Environmental Research Center, Rafsanjan Medical School, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, IR Iran. Tel: +98-3434331315, E-mail: [email protected] Received 2014 October 31; Revised 2015 April 11; Accepted 2015 October 29. 1. Introduction of integration of individual into the society’. Altruistic sui- cide in which the ‘individual is highly integrated into the The world health organization (WHO) has estimated society’. Anomic suicide, which results from ‘lack of regu- that each year nearly one million people die from suicide. lation of the individual by the society’ and finally,Fatalistic Moreover, up to twenty million people carry out suicide at- Suicide, in which ‘an individual’s attitudes and values are tempts annually. The WHO also reported that all through highly regulated by the society’ (3). the world and within the last 45 years, suicide rates have Durkheim’s theory was based on a careful geographi- increased by 60%, mostly among young people (1). cal observation of suicide rates over a long time period (4) When we are dealing with a rising phenomenon like and is used to predict associations between suicide rates suicide, which is a very complicated act and can emerge and social indicators (5). However, it did not embrace all in different ways and types, it is important to apply a char- the recognized types of suicide such as murder suicide, acterization and categorization system. Scientists from di- etc. It also did not have the ability to encompass the new verse backgrounds including sociology,epidemiology,psy- types of suicide as they have emerged. As a result, the chology, biology etc. have not only increased our knowl- ‘risk theory’ became the dominant approach to suicide (6). edge about suicide (2) but also tried to categorize it based The fundamental of this theory is that suicide behavior is on different systems. attributable to many causes, which have been divided to However, evidence suggests that the existing classifica- medical, psychological, biological, social, cultural and eco- tion systems have their own limitations and there are over- nomic (7). laps between different categories. The aim of the present However, even this categorization has its own limita- article was to introduce an algorithm characterization sys- tions. For example, there are overlaps across categories e.g. tem for different types of suicide, which at the very least, mental disorder might cause economic hardship (7). Addi- might apply as an educational resource. tionally, some of the risk factors such as marital problems, To fulfill this aim we will first consider the existing clas- which have previously been classified as psychosocial fac- sification systems and discuss their limitations. Then we tors, could also attribute to biological factors (7,8). move on to discuss the fundamentals of any new catego- rization systems. Finally we will introduce a new charac- As a result, some scientists believe that the ‘risk the- terization system that helps to better classify this complex ory’ offers little insight into suicide (6). Another catego- phenomenon. rization is active vs. passive suicide. Active suicide is an operative deliberate termination of life. Whereas passive suicide indicates placing oneself in a potentially lethal sit- 2. Existing Classification Systems and Their Limita- uation, such as not following treatment of a disease, or not tions leaving dangerous situations and not avoiding the condi- tions that may lead to death. Many factors such as cultural, One of the first scientists, who tried to classify suicide, moral, religious and psychological, as well as denial, eva- was Durkheim. He showed how suicide is explicable with siveness, guardedness and other issues are involved in sui- reference to social structure, and categorized it to the four cidal ideations either actively or passively; egoistic, altruis- following groups: Egoistic suicide, which results from ‘lack tic, anomic or fatalistic (9). Copyright © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited. Rezaeian M and Zarghami M 3. The Fundamentals of any New Categorization Sys- It is important to realize that in these types of suicide tems the act of killing oneself after murdering others might oc- cur to escape punishment or as a form of self-punishment Any new classification system, which might be intro- or even to facilitate murdering. Therefore, these types of duced, should be able to embrace all different types of sui- suicide should be clearly distinguished from suicides in cide behavior. It should also have the ability to encompass which one only wants to kill him/herself (Please see below). any new types of suicide as they emerge. Such new categorization system would eventually help 4.2. Is the Suicide Act Assisted by Someone Else? researchers to better classify the diverse risk factors that trigger this mysterious human phenomenon. The proper In case the response to this question is positive, classification of suicide cases would ultimately allow pub- then we encounter another unusual type of suicide, usu- lic health specialists and clinicians to provide more fo- ally called “assisted suicide”. The most common type cused preventive services with a view to the changing so- of “assisted suicide” is “medically-assisted suicide” or ciety. “physician-assisted suicide” or “euthanasia” in which a ter- minally ill person might ask a doctor or a nurse or even a partner to help them to end their life using drugs or other 4. Proposing a New Categorization System methods. This is one of the most controversial types of suicide all For our algorithm characterization, we should first ask around the world (18-23) and it should be noted that “dig- the following three questions: nity” and “stigmatizing life with a disability” is the state 1- Is the suicide act also aimed at killing other people? which supporters and challengers apply to articulate their 2- Does someone else assist the suicide act? positions, respectively (24). 3- Does the suicide act encompass just a person? Based on the responses to these questions we are able to categorize suicide as depicted in Figure 1. 4.3. Does the Suicide Act Encompass Only One Person? If the suicide act encompasses only one person, as 4.1. Is the Suicide Act Aimed at Also Killing Other People? found in a majority of suicides, then we encounter the In case the response to this question is positive, then most usual and most prominent form of suicide. This con- we encounter an unusual type of suicide usually called sists of almost all suicide acts in every society. A person “murder-suicide”. In this type of suicide, a suicidal per- decides to kill herself/himself based on complex interac- son wants to deliberately kill other people including fam- tions of diverse risk factors. Preventing such a single sui- ily members or partners due to a number of reasons e.g. cide is one of the most important but rather difficult tasks clinical depression and/or presence of divorce or separa- for mental health authorities in different societies (25, 26). tion, etc. (10, 11). In the case the suicidal person kills at However, it is possible, in rare circumstances, for the the very least his spouse and one or more of his children suicide act to encompass more than one person. If it before killing himself the case is referred to as “familicide- involves two or three people, then we encounter a phe- suicide” (12, 13). nomenon called “suicide pact” in which usually two peo- In some other occasions a suicidal person wants to ple decide to kill themselves for personal reasons, either in deliberately kill other people, who are considered to be a certain place and time or in different places (27-31). Some- her/his enemies. This type of suicide is generally called times, this kind of act might encounter more than two peo- “suicide mission” and traditionally happens in armies, ple but usually not more than three or four. who protect their societies during wars and armed con- It would also possible for the Internet to work as a flicts. Japanese Kamikaze is the most well known form of medium to spread the decision to carry out a suicide act, this type of suicide (14). usually between two people in different geographical ar- However, recently, a notable phenomenon, called “sui- eas. There are also occasions where media, such as the cide bomber” occurs especially in the developing world. A Internet, may act as a catalyst for single or group suicide person who might be a civilian, and not necessarily a sol- among people in different geographical areas. This type of dier, carries out the suicide act by blowing himself/herself suicide is named “Internet suicide” and evidence suggests using explosive materials, and tries to kill as much as the that this type of suicide is growing rapidly in societies that armies or even the ordinary people from the opposite side have easy access to the Internet (32-34).