Mass suicide: Historical and psychodynamic considerations

Mass suicide can be defined as the simultaneous suicide of all the members of a social group and is closely linked to the human dimension of existence, although the social and cultural context may vary. In fact, the term mass-suicide can also be used to describe situations in which a particular population has reacted to oppression by denying all normal activities of sustenance, with the intention of bringing about a traumatic metamorphosis in a cultural context (colonization, exploitation by other populations), thus transforming a catastrophe in which a passive role is played into one constructed actively. Therefore, mass suicides can be subdivided into two categories: (a) hetero-induced, typical of defeated and colonized populations forced to escape from a reality that does not acknowledge their human dignity and (b) self-induced, in which the motivation is related to a distorted evaluation of reality, without there being either an intolerable situation or a real risk of death. The mass suicides that have taken place in the last 2 0 years are all related to the establishment of religious sects; the mystic delirium created within the sect leads to the self-destruction of the group as being interpreted as an act of self-assertiveness.