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Humans are eusocial, a term used to describe “colony life” systems in highly social species. Eusocial features include specialized defense and cooperative care of the young, self-sacrificial characteristics that aid in the survival of the extended community. A eusociality-based perspective on suicide views suicide as a dysfunction of the self-sacrificial aspect of eusociality. We consider a eusociality-based conceptualization of suicide in military personnel and first responders, groups that may be characterized as eusocial defenders. Military personnel, veterans, and first responders display unique factors that may be associated with increased suicide risk and exhibit consistent behavioral, environmental, and temperamental traits. We conceptualize these traits considering a eusociality-based view and draw out implications for suicide prevention among military and first responder populations.

No abstract