Changing Trends in Suicide

There are three types of suicide according to chapter 10 of the textbook, which are: egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide and anomic suicide. Egoistic suicide is the type of suicide committed by a person who feels detached from the society, and this may include stigmatization. Altruistic suicide is a type of suicide where one is very much involved in the dictates of a group, than in his own. The person may therefore take his or her life to impress the group (Diamond, 2011). A good example being suicide bombing, whereby one becomes the suicide bomber. Anomic suicide is a type of suicide where one decides to take own life due to stress, either through failing to reach certain goals.

Criminalization of suicide would be reasonable, as it would prevent most people from committing such acts. In addition, people will seek different ways of dealing with their personal issues rather than ending their lives (Diamond, 2011).

A suicide can only be considered mental illness, if the victim had any mental problem prior to committing suicide, if the victim had been diagnosed any mental problems and treated, and if the victim showed signs of mental issues (Diamond, 2011). In intentional acts, experts may exam the challenges facing the victim, and this may include social problems, financial issues and being involved in extremist groups. Determining if a suicide is a mental suicide is significant in the sense that it helps in allowing the victim, if he or she did not dies, with the right medication of dealing with the mental problem. On the other hand, failure of not recognizing if the suicide was intentional or not may lead to increase in rates of criminal activities, since a criminal may kill a person and make it to look as if it was a suicide.

Reference

Diamond, J. M. (2011). Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed.