Citation

Lester D. Suicidol. Online 2012; 3: 51-58.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, The author(s), Publisher Medical University of Vienna, Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Gaia Hypothesis, in which the Earth is viewed as a self-regulating system, is explored for its implications for suicidology. Seven questions are raised by applying the Gaia Hypothesis to suicidal behavior: (1) Is suicide ever a rational act? (2) How common is burdensomeness as a motive for suicide? (3) Can suicide be an instinctive behavior? (4) Does suicide benefit the society? (5) Is suicide found in animals other than humans? (6) Why have we failed to have a major impact on the suicide rate despite all of our efforts and will we ever have an impact? (7) Is there a natural suicide rate?

Keywords: Gaia hypothesis; suicide; rationality; burdensomeness; instinct; animal suicide; preventing suicide; natural suicide rate

Copyrights belong to the Author(s). Suicidology Online (SOL) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal publishing under the Creative Commons License 3.0.

Language: en