ABSTRACT
Suicide can be attributed to organic–psychiatric dispositions and the nature of the physical environment. The argument that suicide is a type of mental disease is put forward by Durkheim as monomania. Suicides generally seem influenced by some abnormal passion, whether its energy is abruptly expended or gradually developed. The cultural rigidity may act as a barrier against an individual who is freer within that culture. Durkheim argues that rates of suicide are proportionate to those of neurasthenia, which may also reflect rural–urban differences in the former. Excessive individualism not only results in following the action of suicidogenic causes but it itself forms such a cause. Individual forms of the different types of suicide include melancholic languor, where the individual withdraws and detaches from business, public affairs, useful work, and domestic duties. This may well be a form of egoistic suicide, whereas altruistic suicide involves expenditure of energy, as its source is a violent emotion.
