Citation

Delcroix S. Annales de Psychiatrie 1999; 14(2): 94-98.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Seppuku, ritual suicide by disembowelment popularized in the West by the word Hara-Kiri, has always aroused fascination in Japan and has inspired theatre, literature and cinema. Seppuku, having its origin in Japanese sociocultural traditions, is a behaviour that is socially prescribed and positively connotated. Although extremely rare in Japan, it acts as a screen, as a defense against the fear of death. Because in Japan suicidal behaviours are linked to sociocultural theories, they are a consequence of economic problems whereas in western countries, where they are linked to psychiatric or psychopathologic theories, they are considered as emotional disturbances or mental diseases. This study about Seppuku shows the relationship between suicide and culture and clarifies the influence of suicide representations on the Japanese cultural unconscious.

Language: fr

Keywords

article; cultural anthropology; cultural factor; Cultural inconscious; death; disease association; ethnic difference; Ethnopsychiatry; human; Japan; mental disease; psychoanalysis; Seppuku; socioeconomics; suicide; Suicide