The 26 types of suicide (according to different criteria)

Death: the end of life and everything we know, the moment we stop being who and how we are. Most people do not want to die, making the idea of ​​death somewhat aversive. However, many see in it a liberation or escape route from suffering, or a means to achieve certain ends. Some of these people may decide to end their own life for different reasons.

But not all suicides occur in the same way or have the same characteristics or purposes. That is why we can establish the existence of different types of suicide, classifiable according to various criteria.

• Related article: "This is how the suicide thinks about death"

The idea of ​​committing suicide

Suicide is understood to be any act or omission of this carried out voluntarily with the purpose of ceasing to exist, that is, to take one's own life. Generally, the person who decides to commit suicide tends to be going through a period of profound vital suffering in different aspects important parts of their life, unable to cope and being in a state of despair in which the only way out they can see is the death.

The experience of deep trauma, the diagnosis of an incurable disease, the harassment of other people or the despair and feeling of total absence of control over one's life are some of the many aspects that can precipitate in some people the attempt to kill oneself. Although death is sought through these types of acts, most of the people who carry them out do not seek death itself, but rather the liberation and the cessation of the suffering that something causes them.

At an organic level, suicidal behavior is usually related to a low level of serotonin in the nervous system. There are important risk factors such as the presence of psychopathology (bipolar disorder, followed by addictions, depression, schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder are some of the most linked to suicide attempts), sex (although ideation is more frequent in women, men tend to carry out the suicidal act in a higher proportion of cases) and age, impulsivity and despair, the presence or knowledge of other suicides in the immediate environment or the existence of persistent stressors that cannot be confronted due to the lack of sufficient resources.

In addition, there are different types of suicide, classifiable based on various criteria. Next we will see some of the main ones.

• You may be interested: "Suicidal thoughts: causes, symptoms and therapy"

Types of suicide according to motivation

One of the main aspects to take into account when evaluating a suicidal act is the motive that has prompted the person to cause their own death. In this aspect we can find a large number of types of suicide, some of the main ones being the following.

1. Suicide call for attention or cry for help

Some people use the suicide attempt as a mechanism to draw attention to a specific event or ask for help with events that they are not able to control. It can have manipulative purposes and the death itself is not usually wanted unless the problem situation does not change.

2. For the purpose of death

The objective of this type of suicide is to achieve one's own death. It is usually carefully and meticulously planned.

3. As an escape

Most suicides have as their real objective the cessation of suffering and not death itself. Death is seen as the only alternative to suffering caused by a specific element of life. reality (for example, harassment or debts), which is why the subject decides to have their own lifetime. Usually it occurs impulsively and without major prior planning.

4. Finalist

This type of suicide is usually aimed at achieving a specific goal other than death or flight. He tends not to seek his own death but rather to pretend or pretend such a search in order to get some kind of profit. Examples of this are the aforementioned cry for help or revenge, although it can also pursue economic benefits such as the fact that others collect life insurance.

5. For revenge

Suicide for revenge or paranoid type It is a type of suicide which is carried out with the purpose of causing harm to other people, in order to make someone specific feel guilt and / or suffering.

• Related article: "Paranoid Personality Disorder: frequent symptoms"

6. Balance

Suicide carried out by people who, in the absence of psychopathology and after a prolonged period of time trying to cope with a conflictive and painful situation, they decide after making a balance that continue living does not suppose any type of gain neither for themselves nor for the environment. It is usually observed in cases of the elderly and people with serious limitations.

Types of suicide according to the modality or method

People who choose to kill themselves resort to different means to do so according to the specific intention of their action, their need to be in control of the situation, the level of suffering they want to suffer or simply the availability of means concrete. If suicides and suicide attempts are classified by the method used to do so, we can find different types.

7. Soft

These are forms of suicide that in principle do not cause obvious trauma and that tend to cause numbness and little pain. One of the main forms of soft suicide is the ingestion of massive amounts of drugs, such as barbiturates. The person tends to play a more passive role in his own death, awaiting the effects of her action.

In addition suppose a greater probability of repentance and salvation, and in many cases the effects can be reversed before they cause death.

8. Hard

Within this classification are incorporated methods involving increased brutality, such as suicide through the use of weapons (be they white or firearms), electrocuted, throwing oneself into the void or hanging. They tend to have a higher probability of death than soft ones and have a certain brutality.

Compared to soft forms of suicide, they are much more likely to cause some kind of suffering. They are also usually methods that involve a direct action by the individual when it comes to causing her own death.

9. Foreign

This type of suicide usually causes a high level of suffering before causing death, involving a certain cruelty towards oneself. They are usually carried out in situations of psychopathology, especially psychotic. Examples of this would be the ingestion of corrosive or sharp substances, drowning oneself or autocannibalistic practices.

10. Masked

These are deaths that are caused by the person himself in such a way that they can be confused with natural deaths or homicides. They usually pursue a specific intention, such as the collection of life insurance by relatives or blaming someone for their own death.

According to the level of regulation and social integration

One of the classifications made after several studies is that carried out by Durkheim, who considered suicide an act caused primarily by social elements. In this sense, there are four possible classifications, related to the level of integration of the individual in society or its regulation on people's lives.

11. Selfish suicide

It is understood as such the type of suicide that is carried out when the individual's social ties are weak and the individual does not feel integrated into society. Not able to feel satisfied due to lack of realization as a social being. You feel overwhelmed, incapable and alone.

12. Altruistic

It is about self-inflicted death that is produced by an excess of group integration, seeing death itself as a sacrifice made for the benefit of the group. The group is valued more than the individual himself.

13. Anomic

Anomic suicide is the suicide carried out by those people who have insufficient social regulation. The changing and unstable society means that there are no references, modifying the values ​​of the individual and can cause a loss of identity.

14. Fatalist

Contrary to the previous one, fatalistic suicide is seen as that carried out by individuals subjected to excessive social control and regulation, feeling oppression and helplessness that can lead to seek death as an escape from such a situation.

According to the presence of previous planning

Autolysis can also be classified according to whether or not it has been previously planned.

15. Accidental suicide

This is the kind of suicide that occurs by accident. The subject did not really want to die, but his performance generates a situation that ends his life.

16. Reflective, intentional, or premeditated

Premeditated suicide is one in which the person who carries it out has planned in advance both the manner and the time and place of her death. In some cases where the reason is the experience of traumatic events or in which the subject manifested great anxiety, a sudden state of calm and serenity can be observed prior to the act, as a result of having made the decision.

17. Impulsive suicide

Impulsive suicide is one that is carried out without prior premeditation. The subject may have previously thought of taking his or her own life, but does not carry out this action until a time when feels highly activated and desperate. It can occur in situations that generate high anxiety, during a Psychotic attack or during a manic episode.

According to the result

Attempting to kill yourself can end up generating different results, depending on whether or not the attempt is successful.

18. Non-suicidal self-harm

In this case we are not facing a real suicide attempt. The subject injures himself for different reasons but without said action posing a real risk to his life or without the self-harm pretending this fact. Sometimes it can lead to death.

19. Suicide Attempt / Attempt

An attempt or attempted suicide is considered any act carried out voluntarily with the intention of achieving one's own death without such action being successful in its objective.

20. Consummate suicide

We call completed suicide that in which the person has acted in order to kill himself and has achieved its goal.

21. Frustrated suicide

It is the type of suicide attempt that has been carried out with the purpose of achieving death, using methods that generally cause the death of the individual. However, the intervention of circumstantial and unpredictable elements, such as the appearance of other people, the quick action of the medical services, poor planning or an inaccurate use of the means chosen to give death have prevented it from ending up causing death.

According to the involvement of other people

Sometimes suicide involves, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, more than one person. In this sense we can find the following types of suicide.

22. Collective or mass suicide

It is a type of suicide in which more than one person or an entire group chooses and agrees to cause their own death voluntarily. The reasons for this can be several, such as the flight of a terrifying factor or the conviction that such an act can bring them some type of benefit. This type of act usually occur in contexts of war situations or in sects.

23. Extended

Extended suicide is based on the idea that an individual decides to kill himself but, in addition to this, considers the death of others generally linked to him necessary or even compassionate. These other people they have not expressed the intention of wanting to die.

The individual first kills the others, who are generally close relatives such as children, partner or family, and later takes his life. These types of situations usually occur in family settings in which the person who wants to commit suicide considers that those who leave behind will suffer greatly or will not be able to survive without it.

24. Assisted suicide or euthanasia

Euthanasia or assisted suicide supposes the end of a person's life through the participation of another or others, authorized participation and demanded by the subject himself or by his close environment in the case of irreversible injuries that do not allow the individual to make a decision.

25. Induced suicide

It is an act of self-harm with the purpose of death that has been caused or facilitated due to duress or suggestion that other people have caused the individual to commit suicide. The subject can be threatened or forced to die, or it can be actively facilitated that he wants to die.

26. Fake suicide

In this case we are not facing a true case of suicide. It is generally a homicide or murder that has been carried out in such a way that the subject in question appears to have taken his or her own life.

Bibliographic references:

• Capponi, R. (2000). Psychopathology and Psychiatric Semiology. Edt. University: Santiago.

• Durkheim, E. (2005). Suicide: A study in Sociology (2nd ed). Taylor and Francis Hoboken.