Instrumental Suicide

Abstract

No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for. (Martin Luther King Jr.) If you're not ready to die for it, take the word "freedom" out of your vocabulary. (Malcolm X) Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr. (Mahatma Gandhi) This chapter explores the second PACS typology of suicide identified: instrumental suicide. As the interdisciplinary field of PACS engages with self-killing as a form of violence in future research and practice, it is hoped that pracademics will begin to locate their inquiries in medical suicide, instrumental suicide (or both), but with nuance and a platform of thoughtfulness that makes visible the diverse forms of this selfdirected violence. This may seem simple to say (or ridiculous even) but the idea behind creating gathering spaces for phenomena is to differentiate and focus energy in such a way that does not assume, collapse, manipulate or erase facets of understanding derived from one form of inquiry to another instance (dissimilar in nature) of phenomena. It is not to presume that there are not elements of both kinds of suicide in an act but to deliberately position our inquiries to exclude understandings that are inappropriate, unsuitable or nonchalant. It is not far-fetched (as this chapter will present) to assume that individuals who engage in homicide-suicide, suicide attacks, daredevil actions or suicide protests are not also under some form of psychological stress. It is inappropriate to CHAPTER 5