ABSTRACT
In explaining how psychological defenses formed in relation to death anxiety shape people’s behavior and lifestyle, several questions come to mind when considering the relationship between self-destructive behavior manifested by older people and their attitudes about death and dying. As individuals give up their lives through progressive self-denial and other microsuicidal behaviors, they are able to maintain a sense of omnipotence, as if they can retain some power over life and death. Suicides attempted by older people tend to be more lethal. It has long been acknowledged that many self-harmful behaviors and lifestyles are not necessarily undertaken with the conscious aim of self-destruction. These behaviors have been referred to as indirect self-destructive behavior, partial suicide, embryonic suicide, parasuicide, and chronic suicide. Microsuicidal behavior exists on a continuum ranging from asceticism or self-denial to accident proneness, substance abuse, and other self-defeating behaviors, culminating in self-mutilating acts and actual suicide.
