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Suicide is the act of voluntarily ending one's own life. It is considered a sin in many religions and often a crime as well. Some cultures have also viewed it as a honorable way to exit certain embarrassing situations. The death must be an central component and intention of the act and not a almost certain consequence, hence matyrdom and reckless bravery in battle escape religious or legal proscription. This is reflected in law in that there must be proof of intent as well as death for the act to be suicide.

Epidemiology
It is probable that the incidence of suicide is widely under-reported due to both religious and social pressures, possibly by as much as 100%. Nevertheless from the known suicides certain trends are apparent. But since the data is skewed, attempts to compare nation to nation are statistically unwise.

Generally there are more male suicides than female, men also tend to use more violent and certain methods against a more 'passive' approach from women. However in the developed world both sexes are approaching parity. In relation to age, male suicide is a n-shaped curve with the peak at ages 50 to 60. For both sexes suicide is a event for older inmdividuals.

Certain time trends can be related to the type of death, in the UK for example the steady rise in suicides from 1945 to 1965 was curtailed following the removal of carbon monoxide from domestic gas. It seems that different cultures have different favourite methods and the easy avaliability of lethal methods plays a role, certainly cultures influence suicide rates.

Higher levels of social and national cohesion reduce suicide rates. Suicide levels are highest among the retired, unemployed, divorced, the childless, urbanites, or those living alone. The rate also rises during times of economic uncertainty (although poverty is not a direct cause as such), while the threat of widespread war is always associated with a steep fall in suicides, even in neutral countries. The majority of suicides also suffer from some psychological disorder, depression in bipolar disorder is an especially common cause. Severe physical disease or infirmity are also recognized causes. There is no 'class' distinction to suicide.

On a individual level the meaning of suicide varies across a ramge of common themes. Simply seeking an end is uncommon, stated reasons include concepts such as a reunion with the dead (bereavement is a additional factor in some suicides), a post-death oversight, a desire to cause pain through causing remorse or grief. Multiple motives are common.

Parasuicide
Rather than use the term "attempted suicide" the neologism parasuicide is more correct. Few attempted suicides are actually trying to achieve suicide. The epidemiology of parasuicides is quite different from that of successful suicides. There are a lot more parasuicides, the vast majority are female and aged under 35. They are rarely physically ill and while psychological factors are highly significant, they are rarely clinically ill and severe depression is uncommon. Social issues are key - parasuicides are most common among those living in overcrowded conditions, in conflict with their family, with a disrupted childhood and a history of drinking, criminal behaviour and violence. Individuals under these stress become anxious and depressed and then, usually in reaction to a single particular crisis, they parasuicide.

The motivation is a desire for respite and to communicate feelings with a 'grand gesture'. However parasuicide cannot be dismissed, almost half of suicides are preceeded by a parasuicide and the generalized suicide rate among parasuicides is a hundred times higher than that of the population at large.

Among the famous people who have committed suicide are Hannibal, Nero, Alan Turing, Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Marina Tsvetaeva and Kurt Cobain.

In the late 18th century, Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, (The Sorrows of Young Werther), the romantic story of a young man who comits suicide because his love proves unattainable, caused a wave of suicides in Germany.

Emile Durkheim, the founder of sociology, wrote a very famous study of suicide in the late 1800's.

Albert Camus saw the goal of existentialism in establishing whether suicide was necessary in a world without God.

A study of suicide in literature was written by the poet Al Alvarez, entitled The Savage God.

Jean Améry, in his book On Suicide: a Discourse on Voluntary Death (originally published in German 1976) provides a moving insight into the suicidal's mind. He argues forcefully and almost romantically that suicide represents the ultimate freedom of humanity, attempting to justify the act with phrases such as "we only arrive at ourselves in a freely chosen death", lamenting the "ridiculously everyday life and its alienation". He committed suicide in 1978.

See also: euthanasia, hara-kiri, kamikaze, marytrdom