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Religion, Spirituality, Belief Systems and Suicide

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Suicide by Self-Immolation

Abstract

Suicide is a complex phenomenon with worldwide public health implications. Suicide often results as the culmination of unbearable anguish combined with lack of co** resources, making the individual decide that continuing with life is no longer desirable. Religion and spirituality are universally important to people. They determine belief systems and provide guiding precepts that are prosocial and socially adaptive. In this chapter, we examine how the world’s four most widely endorsed religions—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism—view suicide. We review how different religions perceive suicide, and specifically how the dramatic act of self-immolation relates to suicide from within the framework of diverse religions and spiritual practices. We discuss studies addressing the potentially protective role of religion and spirituality as well as clinical experiences demonstrating how religious and political motivations framed within certain socio-cultural contexts at times drive suicide by self-immolation. In addition, we propose guidelines for the incorporation of relevant protective factors in suicide prevention efforts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    David Choon Liang Teo

  2. Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    David Choon Liang Teo

  3. Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    David Choon Liang Teo

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Military University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic

    Katerina Duchonova

  5. WPA Psychotherapy Section, Geneva, Switzerland

    Samaneh Kariman

  6. Emergency & Crisis Services, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore

    Jared Ng

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  1. David Choon Liang Teo
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  2. Katerina Duchonova
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  4. Jared Ng
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Correspondence to David Choon Liang Teo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    César A. Alfonso

  2. Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, Bengaluru, India

    Prabha S. Chandra

  3. IPPG, Klinikum der Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Thomas G. Schulze

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Teo, D.C.L., Duchonova, K., Kariman, S., Ng, J. (2021). Religion, Spirituality, Belief Systems and Suicide. In: Alfonso, C.A., Chandra, P.S., Schulze, T.G. (eds) Suicide by Self-Immolation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62613-6_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62613-6_14

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-62613-6

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