The term escalated suicide was routinely used in media reports in connection with the December 2021 arson murder at a psychosomatic clinic near Kitashinchi near JR Osaka Station.Extended suicide is a term used in psychiatry, but it covers a wide range from indiscriminate mass murder, suicide bombings, and forced suicides (lovers, parents and children, nursing care relationships, etc.) (Katada, 12*2017), and is not sufficiently defined. It cannot be said that it has been established.
Originally, the act of collaterally murdering others without consent and attempting to kill oneself should be called extended suicide.However, in the case of indiscriminate mass murder, there are cases where the suspect commits suicide on the spot, and there are also cases where the death sentence is sought by killing a large number of people because they cannot kill themselves.The latter is the type who thinks, even if he commits suicide, that dying alone is "too miserable and ridiculous."In addition, it is not necessarily the case that the target of the murder usually holds a grudge (Ikeda Elementary School Incident), and there are cases where it is completely irrelevant and randomly kills (Akihabara Incident).In order to kill a large number of people, places where many people who are not wary gather and targets that are easy to kill are prioritized over grudges (Ikeda Elementary School Incident, Kawasaki Caritas Gakuin Incident, Sagamihara Tsukui Yamayuri En Incident).The suspect has no intention of running away from the beginning after committing the crime, and is either arrested on the spot or turns himself in.If you are overseas, you may be shot dead by a police officer (in this case, it is called an indirect suicide).
Indiscriminate mass murder often has narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, long-term frustration, financial hardship, family problems and relationship troubles. be.Therefore, it is not strange to be tormented by feelings of isolation and despair, and to be in a depressed state.Then, in the end, the whole society, which has become desperate and has driven itself into a miserable situation, will be surprised and will blow a bubble.In that sense, it is presumed that the desire for self-approval is also included in the desire to make oneself stand out and shine at the end.
Levin and Fox*2 list six factors that cause indiscriminate mass murder.
1 predisposition (mental factor)
① Long-term frustration
There is a large gap between the “ideal (image) self” and the “real self”
Frustration with work, dissatisfaction with society not valuing you
May have narcissistic personality disorder
Belief that you are competent and special, and have an overestimated self-esteem
Despite this, they are angry and frustrated on a daily basis when their pay is low or their status is low.
(XNUMX) Tendency to blame others
Blaming others for one's own failures and setbacks
If you think that you are not capable, you will be hurt, so you will not admit your lack of effort (self-defense)
They have a strong sense of victimhood (e.g., they were forced to quit their job because of someone else), believing that they are being treated unfairly, and are motivated to take revenge on the society they have been unfamiliar with.
Tamami Katada (2017) *1 says, "Projection is a mechanism that throws out the inner 'evil' such as qualities, impulses, emotions, desires, etc. that we do not want to admit inside ourselves, and transforms them into others." "The stronger the projection, the stronger the tendency to blame others for one's own failures and misfortunes," he said.
2 facilitator (event that drives the event)
③ Catastrophic loss
When you think that you are ruined because you are unemployed, divorced, or financially driven, that triggers an explosive act of anger.
④ External trigger
Imitation of the case... In the latest Kitashinchi case, a KyoAni newspaper clipping was found in the suspect's room.Also, just before that, there were several incidents where fires were set in so-called "closed places" on the Keio Line, Odakyu Line, and Kyushu Shinkansen.
3 Ease-related factors (factors that make incidents more likely)
⑤ Social and psychological isolation
Separation from family, job separation, and loneliness... The cause is a personality that is responsible for others and has strong narcissism.
⑥ Obtaining Weapons for Mass Destruction
In the case of the Kitashinchi incident, it was easy to purchase gasoline.
I do not agree with lumping suicide bombings, forced suicides, and indiscriminate mass murder into the category of extended suicide.Suicide bombings are often deceived as jihad (holy war) and carried out in exchange for elevating one's religious ranks, and many of them are well-educated young people.In the case of forced suicide, there are cases where the other person commits suicide because of a unilateral thought, but there are also cases where the person (such as a child) cannot be left alone in this world. .In that respect, it is clearly different from the suicide of a suspect after an indiscriminate mass murder.They prefer places where they can kill many people at once, and often second whether or not the target holds a grudge.Lacking emotion, there is no altruistic element, there are dissatisfied demands, a tendency to blame others, a desire to show off, and is full of resentment and revenge against society.
In the Osaka incident, the suspect eventually died without regaining consciousness.At present, according to some media outlets, ``because no trouble has been heard, the suspect likes the clinic, and may have committed suicide with someone with whom he has a strong emotional connection.'' .However, to cite such a motive does not seem to be a comment based on a thorough knowledge of the results of previous studies on indiscriminate mass murders.There is concern that the term 'extended suicide' has spread throughout the world without being properly understood.
Citation
*1 Tamami Katada (2017):Extended suicide mass murder, suicide bombing, unreasonable double suicide (Kadokawa Selected Books) Kadokawa Shoten
*2 Levin, J. & Fox, JA (1985): Muss Murder: America's growing menace. Plenum Press.
Makoto Nakayama, Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology
