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Suicide Terrorism as a Socially Approved Form of Suicide
... Based on the discrepant moral evaluations of suicide and suicide terrorism, Lankford (2010;2013c) suggests that "martyrdom" could be made more disgraceful by exposing potential suicide terrorists as deserving the stigmatization of conventional suicide. Although we appreciate that this recommendation could plausibly help to deter potential suicide terrorists, we close with a note of concern about this normative advice. ...
... For each of these suicidal examples, there may be corollaries for suicide terrorism. And in some cases, suicide terrorists may be suicidal but behave in virtually unprecedented ways, given the virtually unprecedented levels of social approval for their particular form of suicide (Lankford 2010). Ultimately, if suicidal people and suicide terrorists kill themselves for similar underlying reasons, we should use similar labels to describe them. ...
The psychology of suicide terrorism involves more than simply the psychology of suicide. Individual differences in social dominance orientation (SDO) interact with the socio-structural, political context to produce support for group-based dominance among members of both dominant and subordinate groups. This may help explain why, in one specific context, some people commit and endorse terrorism, whereas others do not.
... Based on the discrepant moral evaluations of suicide and suicide terrorism, Lankford (2010;2013c) suggests that "martyrdom" could be made more disgraceful by exposing potential suicide terrorists as deserving the stigmatization of conventional suicide. Although we appreciate that this recommendation could plausibly help to deter potential suicide terrorists, we close with a note of concern about this normative advice. ...
... For each of these suicidal examples, there may be corollaries for suicide terrorism. And in some cases, suicide terrorists may be suicidal but behave in virtually unprecedented ways, given the virtually unprecedented levels of social approval for their particular form of suicide (Lankford 2010). Ultimately, if suicidal people and suicide terrorists kill themselves for similar underlying reasons, we should use similar labels to describe them. ...
Lankford's essential empirical argument, which is based on evidence such as psychological autopsies, is that suicide attacks are caused by suicidality. By operationalizing this causal claim in a hypothetical experiment, I show the claim to be provable, and I contend that its truth is supported by Lankford's data. However, I question his ensuing arguments about beauty and goodness, and thereby the practical value of his work in counterterrorist propaganda.
... They found that 53 percent of the suicide terrorists exhibited depressive tendencies, 40 percent exhibited suicidal tendencies, 20 percent showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, and 13 percent had previously attempted suicide, unrelated to terrorism (Merari et al. 2010a, b). Although 60 percent of the suicide terrorists did not appear suicidal in the conventional sense, previous research on cross-cultural variations of suicidality suggests that some may have been suicidal in a less conventional manner (Holmes 2005;Lankford 2010a). Furthermore, other recent studies have shown that more than 75 individual suicide terrorists appear to have displayed classic risk factors for conventional suicide (Lankford 2010b(Lankford , 2011. ...
... In Atta's mind, hanging himself, overdosing on prescription drugs, or killing himself with a firearm would have sent him directly to hell (Lankford 2010b). However, there was a potential loophole which Atta spent a great deal of time thinking about: "martyrdom attacks" had essentially become the only socially-approved form of suicide in the Islamic world (Holmes 2005;Lankford 2010a). ...
Simple logic dictates that some suicide terrorists are more significant than others. However, major questions still remain about the motives and psychology of 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta, arguably the most significant suicide terrorist in human history. This article constructs a psychological autopsy of Atta in order to provide a much more complete explanation of his behavior. First, it suggests that accounts which solely attribute Atta’s actions to religious and political ideology appear severely incomplete. It then reviews evidence that Atta may have been clinically suicidal, and that his struggles with social isolation, depression, hopelessness, guilt, and shame were extraordinarily similar to the struggles of those who commit conventional suicide. Finally, it considers how Atta’s ideology may have interacted with his suicidal tendencies to produce his final act of murder-suicide on September 11, 2011.
... Crenshaw, 1981;Ferguson, Burgess & Hollywood, 2008;Kruglanski & Fishman, 2006;Zimbardo, 2007), der blot blev påvirket af forskellige former for situationsbestemte faktorer (f.eks. Crenshaw, 2001;Ginges, Hansen & Norenzayan, 2009;Merari, 2002;Pedahzur, 2005;Post, 2005;Post et al., 2009, men se Lankford, 2014Lankford, 2010). ...
Forskere, der beskæftiger sig med radikalisering og terrorisme, er uenige om, hvad der udgør de vigtigste forklaringsmodeller. Uenighederne følger ofte et mønster baseret på kontroversen om, hvorvidt det er den individuelle psykologi eller situationsbestemte faktorer, der er bestemmende for vores adfærd (“person vs. situation-debatten”). Et gennemgående review af litteraturen viser, at psykologisk forskning inden for radikalisering og terrorisme overvejende er præget af et særligt fokus på kontekstuelle faktorer som årsagsforklaringer. I denne rapport identificeres faldgruberne, når vores forståelse af disse fænomener primært fokuserer på kontekstuelle faktorer. I tråd med dette illustreres i rapporten, hvordan historien gentager sig ved at drage paralleller mellem forskning inden for terrorisme og “person vs. situation-debatten” inden for psykologien, hvor personbaserede forklaringer af afvigende adfærd blev mødt med skepsis, der senere viste sig at være ubegrundet. Selvom mange hævder, at kontroversen er et afsluttet kapitel i den psykologiske forskning, er det påfaldende, hvor tydeligt modstillingen stadig optræder, når man ser på den psykologiske forskning inden for radikalisering og terrorisme i dag, hvor individuelle, psykologiske forklaringer bliver nedprioriteret til fordel for et næsten rent fokus på kontekstuelle faktorer.
I denne rapport argumenteres for nødvendigheden af, at psykologiske variabler sammen med situationsbestemte faktorer kan bidrage til vores forståelse af, hvorfor nogle individer fra en bestemt social gruppe i en bestemt sammenhæng bliver radikaliseret, mens andre ikke gør. Yderligere argumenteres for, at vores adfærd, i ekstreme såvel som ordinære situationer, opstår som et produkt af en interaktion mellem individuelle, psykologiske og andre vigtige kontekstuelle markører.
... And when the same community condemns conventional suicide as a certain path to hell, that closes the alternative escape, furthering the likelihood of a suicide attack. Most societies where Islam is the dominant religion have particularly strong stigmas against conventional suicide, which may help explain why their conventional suicide rates are often below average, while their suicide terrorism rates are often above average [44]. ...
When it comes to explaining, predicting, and preventing suicide terrorism, there is a lot more important work to be done. This paper draws on the most recent evidence about where suicide terrorism occurs and why to propose a basic explanatory framework. Taking a bottom-up approach, it first identifies the minimum requirements for a suicide terrorism attack, and then outlines additional facilitators for the deadliest attacks and most prolonged suicide terrorism campaigns. Next, it applies these variables to clarify popular misunderstandings about foreign occupation as the primary cause of suicide terrorism. Finally, it shows how security officials can use this framework to develop a series of short term and long term countermeasures and begin to reduce the prevalence of suicide terrorism worldwide.
... For each of these suicidal examples, there may be corollaries for suicide terrorism. And in some cases, suicide terrorists may be suicidal but behave in virtually unprecedented ways, given the virtually unprecedented levels of social approval for their particular form of suicide (Lankford 2010). Ultimately, if suicidal people and suicide terrorists kill themselves for similar underlying reasons, we should use similar labels to describe them. ...
The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers proposes that suicide terrorists are psychologically and behaviorally similar to other people who commit suicide, due to a range of individual, social, and situational factors. Some commentators agree, while others are skeptical, given the lack of information about many attackers' lives. However, the book's position is not simply based on individual case studies; it is also supported by other independent assessments, the confirmation of empirical predictions, the paucity of contradictory evidence, and new applications of evolutionary theory. It is undisputed that human beings behave as the author suggests; it is unknown if they behave as the conventional wisdom suggests. Those who argue that suicide terrorists are psychologically normal and altruistically sacrificing their lives for an ideological cause should bear the burden of proof for those claims.
... Merari et al (2010a) found classic suicidal tendencies among approximately 40 per cent of the preemptively arrested suicide terrorists they interviewed and assessed, but this was a relatively small sample, and psychological explanations for the majority who did not exhibit classic suicidal tendencies are still needed. This latter group may have been suicidal in some less conventional sense, but although this possibility has been mentioned ( Lankford, 2010b ), it has not yet been probed in depth. This article will build off the strongest evidence to date, in order to present a suicide-based theory and typology of suicide terrorists. ...
This article proposes that there are four primary types of suicide terrorist: (1) conventional suicide terrorists, who become suicidal owing to classic risk factors, (2) coerced suicide terrorists, who become suicidal because they fear the organizational consequences of not carrying out attacks, (3) escapist suicide terrorists, who become suicidal because they fear being captured by the enemy, and (4) indirect suicide terrorists, who become suicidal at an unconscious level and orchestrate their deaths in ways that disguise their desire to die. It then outlines behavioral expectations for each type, in terms of warning signs, tactical experience and attack styles, and concludes with recommendations for security countermeasures and future research.
... It seems quite possible that volunteer suicide bombers are thus assumed to be mentally fit in the Middle East, even though they would have been diagnosed with mental disorders had they lived in the U.S. In fact, there has been growing evidence in recent years that at least some suicide bombers displayed classic signs of mental illness before their deaths. For instance, two Iraqi female suicide bombers who struck in 2008 were reported to have had severe mental disorders, and other volunteer suicide terrorists in Palestine and Afghanistan have displayed classic suicidal traits (Lankford, 2010a(Lankford, , 2010bMcElroy, 2008;Merari, Diamant, Bibi, Broshi, & Zakin, 2010). However, given the heroic portrayals of such "martyrs" (Abdel- Khalek, 2004;Charny, 2007;Gunaratna, 2002;Hafez, 2006;Hoffman, 2006;Juergensmeyer, 2008), it is not surprising that their local communities, their family members, and the terrorist groups which armed them attempt to protect their reputations by dismissing any possibility that they may have been mentally ill. ...
Previous research comparing rampage shooters in the U.S. and volunteer suicide bombers in the Middle East appears to be virtually non-existent. When these two types of suicidal killers have been mentioned in the same context, it has primarily been to dismiss any possible connections. Rampage shooters are generally assumed to be mentally unbalanced, while suicide bombers are seen as extreme, but rational, political actors. However, this review explores the possibility that the primary differences between the two types of killers are cultural, not individual, and that in terms of their underlying psychology and motivation, they are actually quite similar. In both cases, substantial evidence indicates that these perpetrators of murder–suicide share many of the following characteristics: (1) they had troubled childhoods, (2) they lived in oppressive social environments, (3) they suffered from low self-esteem, (4) they were triggered by a personal crisis, (5) they were seeking revenge, and (6) they were seeking fame and glory.
More than 15 years have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and a comprehensive re-examination of the 9/11 attackers is now warranted. Research on the psychology of terrorists has evolved dramatically, and there is also new information on some offenders. The present study provides the available psychological and psychiatric evidence on each of the 9/11 pilots, muscle hijackers, and thwarted hijackers who intended to participate in the “planes operation.” Overall, findings suggest that the 9/11 terrorists may have had significantly more mental health problems than previously assumed, and the leaders who planned 9/11 personally approved suicide attackers with prior histories of mental illness. By widely publicizing this information, security officials may be able to more effectively delegitimize suicide terrorism and reduce the number of individuals who would consider funding, supporting, or committing these deadly attacks.
While primarily identifying similarities between suicide terrorists and other suicidal individuals, Lankford also notes differences in how their actions are morally evaluated. Specifically, “conventional” suicide is stigmatized in a way that suicide terrorism is not. We identify the root of this condemnation, showing that suicide is intuitively considered impure and disgusting, and discuss implications of this purity-based stigma.
Terror organizations tend to rely on a limited number of practices to reinforce commitment to suicide on the part of recruits. Therefore, given the many difficulties associated with identifying individuals willing to become suicide terrorists, understanding the organizational contexts in which most suicide terrorism takes place is likely to be more useful than psychological profiling for predicting future attacks.
For years, scholars have claimed that suicide terrorists are not suicidal, but rather psychologically normal individuals inspired to sacrifice their lives for an ideological cause, due to a range of social and situational factors. I agree that suicide terrorists are shaped by their contexts, as we all are. However, I argue that these scholars went too far. In The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers, I take the opposing view, based on my in-depth analyses of suicide attackers from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America; attackers who were male, female, young, old, Islamic, and Christian; attackers who carried out the most deadly and the least deadly strikes. I present evidence that in terms of their behavior and psychology, suicide terrorists are much like others who commit conventional suicides, murder-suicides, or unconventional suicides where mental health problems, personal crises, coercion, fear of an approaching enemy, or hidden self-destructive urges play a major role. I also identify critical differences between suicide terrorists and those who have genuinely sacrificed their lives for a greater good. By better understanding suicide terrorists, experts in the brain and behavioral sciences may be able to pioneer exciting new breakthroughs in security countermeasures and suicide prevention. And even more ambitiously, by examining these profound extremes of the human condition, perhaps we can more accurately grasp the power of the human survival instinct among those who are actually psychologically healthy.
Despite growing evidence to the contrary, it is still widely assumed that suicide terrorists are not actually suicidal. However, this review supports recent studies which suggest the opposite, and presents initial evidence that much like other suicidal individuals, many suicide terrorists appear to be driven by clinically suicidal risk factors, including: (1) the desire to escape the world they live in, (2) the desire to escape moral responsibility for their actions, (3) the inability to cope with a perceived crisis, and (4) a sense of low self-worth. By establishing the links between suicide terrorism and suicidality, scholars may be able to better understand the nature of these violent attacks and develop more effective ways to stop them.
For years, it has been widely agreed on that suicide terrorists are not suicidal individuals, and that behaviorally, they are more similar to noble soldiers who are willing to sacrifice themselves for a cause. However, upon closer examination, it appears that the foundation of this conventional wisdom is extraordinarily shaky. There are many reasons to think that both event-based and psychological risk factors for suicide may drive the behavior of suicide terrorists. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that more than 75 individual suicide terrorists have exhibited these classic suicidal traits. Given the power that the stigma of suicide may have to deter future suicide terrorists, it is critical that governments, scholars, and practitioners examine this issue once again.
This is a report of a direct psychological examination of suicide, or “martyrdom” terrorists and of organizers of martyrdom attacks. Assessments of the personality of self-martyrs have so far relied on biographical material drawn from secondary sources. In the absence of direct psychological examinations, the debate on the existence of distinctive personality factors among suicide terrorists has so far remained at the hypothetical level. This study subjected failed Palestinian suicide terrorists, a control group of non-suicide terrorists, and a group of organizers of suicide attacks, to clinical psychological interviews and tests. Significant differences were found between suicide and non-suicide terrorists and between these two groups and the organizers of martyrdom attacks. Two main personality styles were found among the would-be suicides. Members of this group had a significantly lower level of ego strength than the organizers of martyrdom attacks. Most of the would-be martyrs displayed a dependent and avoidant personality style, a profile that made them more amenable to group, leader, and public influence. Others were assessed as having an impulsive and emotionally unstable style. Some of the would-be martyrs but none of the control and organizers groups' participants displayed sub-clinical suicidal tendencies. Significantly more martyr than control group members displayed symptoms of depression.
Only few studies have so far confirmed the clear connection of attitudes toward suicide with prevalence of suicidal behavior, and there are several contradictory findings on the balance of this relationship. Slovenia has long had a very high suicide rate, including in the population of adolescents.
To examine attitudes of Slovene adolescents toward suicide and their connection to different suicide risk factors.
A questionnaire on attitudes toward suicide was given to 423 high school students from three regions based on the different regional suicide rates.
The results proved our expectation of girls having more permissive attitudes toward suicide than boys. Also, a permissive attitude was positively associated with the majority of suicide risk factors.
In the light of certain limitations of the study we discuss the implications of the main finding, namely, that permissive attitudes toward suicide are more likely a risk than a safety factor for suicidal behavior.
Self-reported suicidal behavior and attitudes toward suicide in psychology students are reported and compared in Ghana, Uganda, and Norway. Small differences only were found in own suicidal behavior. However, experience of suicidal behavior in the surroundings was more common in Uganda than in Ghana and Norway. Although differences were found between the three countries in attitudes toward suicide, which emphasizes the need for culture-sensitive research and prevention, many of the differences were not as big as expected. The most pronounced difference was that the Norwegian students were more reluctant to take a stand on these questions compared to their African counterparts. Some differences were also found between the two African countries. The implications of the results for suicide prevention in Africa are discussed.
Previous work on religion and suicide has pursued a number of themes. The present work tested a new perspective which stresses the extent of social support networks in religions as protections against suicide. This study employed micro-level data on suicide attitudes as a check on previous findings based on ecological data. An analysis of national data from the General Social Surveys tended to support network theory. Churches promoting network involvement were found to have lower levels of suicide ideology. In particular, churches with conservative theologies, nonecumenical relations, and/or whose teachings are in tension with the larger society have lower levels of suicide ideology. These findings were independent of control variables drawn from alternative theories of suicide.
List of Illustrations 1. Cato's Harakiri 2. The Arithmetic of Suicide 3. Towards a Theory of Suicide 4. Suicide as Sympton 5. The Dawn of History 6. Violence at a Distance 7. The Martial Art of Dying Well 8. Giving up the Body 9. The Theatre of Cruelty 10. Love and Death 11. The Tradition of Sacrifice 12. Into the Abyss 13. Some Nihilist Vignettes 14. Mishima: The Last Act Notes Glossary of Japanese Teerms.
Despite growing evidence to the contrary, it is still widely assumed that suicide terrorists are not actually suicidal. However, this review supports recent studies which suggest the opposite, and presents initial evidence that much like other suicidal individuals, many suicide terrorists appear to be driven by clinically suicidal risk factors, including: (1) the desire to escape the world they live in, (2) the desire to escape moral responsibility for their actions, (3) the inability to cope with a perceived crisis, and (4) a sense of low self-worth. By establishing the links between suicide terrorism and suicidality, scholars may be able to better understand the nature of these violent attacks and develop more effective ways to stop them.
Abstract Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Suicides numbered 32 863 in 1998 and have exceeded 30 000 in every subsequent year. Education of those involved in general and psychosocial patient care can contribute greatly to suicide prevention. The authors administered a brief knowledge and attitude assessment questionnaire concerning suicide to students in their first, third, and fifth years at a Japanese medical school. Participants numbered 160 (94 men with a mean age of 21.8 years, SD = 3.01, and 66 women with a mean age of 21.2 years, SD = 2.64); 59 first year, 52 third year, and 49 in their fifth year. The questionnaire consists of eight multiple-choice questions asking knowledge of suicide and one open-ended question asking attitude. In the knowledge part, only about half of the items were answered correctly (mean score was 4.21, SD = 1.28). A significant difference was observed in prevalence of attitudes as categorical variables between student years (P = 0.001). Sympathetic comments increased along with student years, while critical comments decreased. Given the frequent and interventional opportunities of primary-care medical contacts, poor understanding of suicide from the medical viewpoint was of concern. Moreover, judgmental attitudes were common, especially in earlier school years. Better informed, more understanding physicians and other health professionals could contribute greatly to prevention.
Are suicide terrorists suicidal? A review of the worldwide literature on suicide terrorism uncovered five published empirical studies describing data collected from potential suicide terrorists or the surviving friends and families of deceased terrorists. The many discrepancies uncovered between suicide terrorists and other suicides on key factors known to underpin suicidality, suggest that such terrorists are not truly suicidal and should not be viewed as a subgroup of the general suicide population. Nonetheless, methods developed by suicidologists, such as the psychological autopsy, will help increase our understanding of the individual and group factors that underpin suicide terrorism.
Religiousness has been associated with decreased risk of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and completed suicide, but the mechanisms underlying these associations are not well characterized. The present study examined the roles of religious beliefs and social support in that relation. A survey measuring religiousness, social support, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts was administered to 454 undergraduate students. Involvement in public, but not private, religious practices was associated with lower levels of both suicidal ideation and history of suicide attempts. Social support mediated these relations but religious beliefs did not. Results highlight the importance of social support provided by religious communities.
This paper reviews current understandings of the psychology of suicide terrorism for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to help them better understand this terrifying phenomenon. After discussing key concepts and definitions, the paper reviews both group and individual models for explaining the development of suicide terrorists, with an emphasis on "collective identity." Stressing the importance of social psychology, it emphasizes the "normality" and absence of individual psychopathology of the suicide bombers. It will discuss the broad range of terrorisms, but will particularly emphasize terrorism associated with militant Islam. The article emphasizes that comprehending suicide terrorism requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes anthropological, economic, historical, and political factors as well as psychological ones. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for research, policy, and prevention, reviewing the manner in which social psychiatric knowledge and understandings applied to this phenomenon in an interdisciplinary framework can assist in developing approaches to counter this deadly strategy.
There have been numerous papers focusing on culture and suicide, but it seems that they have often emphasized cultural differences excessively, thus running the risk of increasing prejudice toward different cultures and reinforcing overgeneralizations. From my albeit limited knowledge and experience, it appears that there are more similarities than differences in suicide among various cultures. Most cases of suicide reflect complex human factors that are found universally among cultures. Despite the fact that some cultural differences in suicide admittedly exist in different societies and that these are important, they cannot explain every aspect of suicide. This article explains how I, as a Japanese psychiatrist, diagnose and treat suicidal patients against the backgrounds of Japanese culture by presenting my way of thinking in daily practice in order to show similarities and differences that exist in Japanese suicide, treatment, and prevention.
Support for suicide bombing. Re- trieved from http://pewglobal.org/database/?indica- tor=19&survey=10&response=Often Voluntary death in Japan
- M Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center. (2009). Support for suicide bombing. Re-
trieved
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Pinguet, M. (1993). Voluntary death in Japan. Cambridge: Polity
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Suicide: Individual, cultural, international perspectives
- A A Leenaars
- R W Maris
- Y Takahashi
Leenaars, A. A., Maris, R. W., Takahashi, Y. (1997). Suicide: Individual, cultural, international perspectives. New York: Guilford.
Suicide rates Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide
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About the author
Fighting suicide bombing: A worldwide campaign for life
- I W Charny
Charny, I. W. (2007). Fighting suicide bombing: A worldwide
campaign for life. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International.
he helped coordinate Senior Executive Anti-Terrorism Forums in conjunction with the US State Department. Dr. Lankford has published on a wide range of topics related to counterterrorism and international security
- Al Tuscaloosa
Adam Lankford is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at
The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA. From 2003 to
2008, he helped coordinate Senior Executive Anti-Terrorism Forums in conjunction with the US State Department. Dr. Lankford
has published on a wide range of topics related to counterterrorism
and international security.
AL 35487-0320 USA Tel. +1 205 348-9901 E-mail adam.lankford@ua
- Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0320
USA
Tel. +1 205 348-9901
E-mail adam.lankford@ua.edu
Editorial
Support for suicide bombing
Pew Research Center. (2009). Support for suicide bombing. Retrieved
from
http://pewglobal.org/database/?indica-tor=19&survey=10&response=Often/sometimes%20justified
Suicide terrorists: Are they suicidal? Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
- E Townsend
Townsend, E. (2007). Suicide terrorists: Are they suicidal? Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 37, 35-49.