Types of Suicide
Updated 2026-08-08
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Formulated by Emile Durkheim in his study Suicide, which argued that suicide rates are social facts explained by the degree of social integration and moral regulation rather than by individual psychology. He identified four types: egoistic, from weak integration; altruistic, from excessive integration; anomic, from collapsed norms; and fatalistic, from oppressive regulation. The core claim is that group-level rates reveal social structure. The qualification is that the categories are analytical types with overlapping boundaries.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Use Integration Check: Ask whether a group's distress comes from too little belonging or too much. - Use Regulation Check: Ask whether norms have collapsed or become excessively rigid. - Use Rate Reading: Compare group-level rates to infer social structure instead of diagnosing individuals.
Anchor fast decisions
Individual lives depend on both attachment to others and rules that make conduct predictable. Too little attachment leaves people without reasons to continue, while too much subsumes personal survival in collective demands. Similarly, normlessness removes guidance while excessive regulation removes any possibility of change. Because each imbalance produces its own characteristic pattern, group suicide rates vary with social structure rather than with private temperament alone.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_(Durkheim_bookverified
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