THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUICIDE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3254, 2 March 1885, Page 3

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUICIDE.

{Lancet.) The time is rapidly approaching, if, indeed, it has not arrived, when some serious attempt must be made, m the interests of public morality not less than that of personal health and happiness, to place the question of insanity m relation to suicide on an intelligible footing. It will not be denied, and it can scarcely be do\ibted, that as matters now stand there is, and always must be, a sentimental impulse m the mind of every juryman, of every coroner, of every medical witness, to give the fullest benefit of the doubt, whenever the least colorable reason for doubt or question can be discovered, as to the alternative hypothesis of culpable self-murder and irresponsible suicide. It is only natural that there should be this desire, and it will always exist, so long, at least, as grievous penalties are attached to the crime of self murder — penalties which are now felt to be visited on the bereaved friends rather than on the offender. In the old days, when burial according to the rites of a Church was held to ameliorate the final or intermediate state of the departed, the penalty of burial with maimed rites, or without any religious service at all, was felt to be one of extreme severity ; and probably the dread of such treatment after death may have acted as a detriment. Those days have passed, and popular feeling, is changed too, whether for better or for worse is not the question before us. The fact we have now to face is that, particularly since the insurance companies generally have made assigned policies indisputable, there has been nothing beyond a vague dread of undefined contingencies to influence for good the mind of the intending suicide. It is almost certain that, except m the most flagrant case of suicide by a murderer, the verdict returned will be one m which " temporary insanity " is hypothecated to clear the charge and wipe out a possible blot on the family escutcheon. Our present contention is that it is important that there should be some rational endeavor to make the distinction between insanity and life weariness apparent. Are we about to allege that a coroner's court and jury constitute a tribunal before which the issue raised m these cases can be intelligently or jii3tly tried] Most certainly not. Nothing could well be more at variance with our view. We think such an issue as this can only be decided by a medical judgment, and even by that with great difficulty when there is no trustworthy evidence as to the actual state of the mind of the deceased person shortly or immediately before death. It is not, we hold, except m rare instances practicable to form any good inference as to the state of the mind from the manner of the death. Of course, if, a3 occasionally happens, the mode of self-murder is m itself conclusive evidence of insanity, that may be available as proof of the existence of mental unsoundness, but m ordinary cases of suicide by drowning, hanging, cutting the throat, or taking poison, this inference is impossible. Again, absence of apparent motive is valueless, because "the heart knoweth its own bitterness," and under the calmest exterior there may be hidden a hell of remorse or despair from which even the sane mind seeks to escape, at all hazards as to the future. Such conceits that no sane man would kill himself unless he were m the immediate presence of the extremest personal suffering or ignominy, or that the mind must be unsound that refuses to believe m a future, are too puerile to call for serious discussion. It must be admitted, whether we like it or not, that " self-destruction " is a mode of exit from this world of worries and disappointments- which men and women m perfect enjoyment of their senses have m all ages from time to time adopted. What or who, then, is to determine, m any particular instance, whether self-murder was committed with a sane or with an insane conscience and purpose '( We are bound to confess that, except m the extremely rare cases to which reference has just been made as implying insanity by the mode of death selected or carried out, and! even m these cases great care needs to be exercised, there is positively no evidence available, and no means of forming a judgment outßide or m addition to the inference deducible from the deceased person's life. We are strongly of opinion that this life story, so far as it can be ascertained, ought m every case to be submitted to a committee of experts, and that no coroner's court or jury' should be empowered or permitted to adjudicate on the issue, " Bane or insane V let the dependent consequences be what they may. There is no need to hurry a judgment. The exceptional verdict which carries with it the penalty of interment at uncanonical hours, m nnconsecrated ground, and without religious ceremonial, is, as we have said, never returned except m cases of murder, as well as suicide, and when the circumstances are so clear that no doubt or question can afterwards arise. All other cases should, we repeat, be reserved, and the issue of sanity or insanity carefully worked out. The interests of society require that thia or some other precise procedure should be adopted. Suicides are on the increase, and, setting aside all questions of retributive or deterrent penalties for the crime of self-murder, it is imprudent to brand the craven crime as an act of ignominious cowardice, which, indeed, it generally is. We do not believe m " temporary insanity " a3 a common cause of, or excuse for, selfslaughter. We believe ' the great majority of persons who die by their own hands do so with an intelligent consciousness of what they are doing. It is not their psychical, but their moral, condition which is at fault. They want to flee from the trials and troubles of life. They do not like to be disappointed and indigent ; they " cannot bear " the loss of property or friends. They are unable to face the ignominy of some exposure, or they find consciousness unendurable on account of some secret poignant remorse. These are the true causes of suicide, and the self-murderer takes life m a state of excitement it may be, indeed is likely to be, but he is as sane for all practical purposes, and m a scientific sense, as those around him, who are perhaps equally tried, but more patient. We fully and clearly recognise that mind is brain-function) and we are not forgetful of the way m which the mental part of man's nature acts upon, and reacts from, his physical organism ; but we are not materialistic enough, yet at least, to look upon the human organism, with its consciousness, as a mere machine or apparatus by means of which correlated, concordant, divergent, and antagonistic forces work out a mean mental result. Until we do, if ever wo

do, arrive at this finality of surrender of all that is noblo or even worthy m man, we must insist that the laws and usages of the community should be so ordered as to provide and supply incentives to right conduct and self-control, and deterrents from wrong-doing and self-surrender to passion and impulse. The charity that makes coroners' juries return verdicts of " temporary insanity " covers a multitude of sins — sins that ought not to be committed, and cannot safely be condoned.