Suicide

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Suicide is the act of killing oneself (ending one's own life) on purpose. The word suicide is from the Latin phrase sui caedere, which means "to kill oneself". People say that someone "commits suicide". Mental health experts consider suicide attempts to be a symptom of a serious depression. Suicide is a crime in some places, and it is considered a sin in many religions.

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[edit] Views of suicide

[edit] Medical

Modern medicine treats suicide as a mental health issue. When a person gets many thoughts about killing themselves, it is considered a medical emergency, and people that practice medicine have suggested that people planning on killing themselves should get medical attention straight away. This is especially important if the person already has a way to kill themselves with them or can get them easily. People that are depressed are considered a high-risk group for suicidal behaviour. Suicide hotlines are available, where people can call and speak to somebody. However, the negative and often too clinical reception that many suicidal people receive after telling a health professional how they are feeling (threats of having to go to a mental institution, increasing dosages of medication, people disapproving of their feelings, etc.), often causes them to keep their suicidal thoughts to themselves.

[edit] Cultural

In the Warring States Period and the Edo period of Japan, samurai who disgraced their honour chose to end their own lives by harakiri (hara = stomach, kiri = cut) or seppuku, which is where the samurai takes a sword and slices into their abdomen, causing an injury that kills them.

The cut is usually performed diagonally from the top corner of the hand that the samurai uses to write with, and it has long been considered an honourable form of death (even when done to punish dishonour). Though obviously such a wound would be fatal, seppuku was not always technically suicide because the samurai's assistant (the kaishaku) would stand by to kill the samurai by decapitating them to end the suffering, sometimes as soon as the first incision into the abdomen was made.

[edit] See also