Resource Tag: MASS SUICIDE

This article discusses possible reasons for cult suicides such as the Jonestown massacre, Waco, the Solar Temple tragedy, & more recently Heaven’s Gate. Analysts link 3 features of new religious movements to the outbreak of violence: apocalyptic belief systems, heavy investments in charismatic leadership, & social encapsulation.

This proceeding summarizes a paper that analyses the differences between a therapist-patient relationship & negotiator-hostage-taker interaction. Influences of suicidal thoughts, aggression & confidentiality are discussed in these relationships. Negotiation principles, motivations for communication & the training of therapists & negotiators are presented, supplemented by an analysis of the hostage situation in Waco, Texas. (SC)

Letter to the editor.

This brief article discusses the 1978 mass murder-suicide of 911 people in Jonestown, Guyana. The author discusses the bereavment therapy required for many people, & the need for greater understanding of this event in order to prevent other cults from taking a similiar path. (VM)

This article discusses the 1978 mass murder-suicide of 911 people in Jonestown, Guyana. The author describes similiar incidents & experiments which have shown that many people will allow themselves to be directed to do anything, including violence against themselves or others. Reasons why humans are so suggestible are outlined, for example, early learning and socialization […]

This article discusses the writings of Flavius Josephus (37 to circa 100 A.D.). Josephus was a Judean commander, who became a Roman collaborator, then a Roman citizen, then a imperial patron. Josephus describes 24 fatal & 4 attempted suicides in his works. Most of the suicides were carried out during times of strife, & often […]

This article provides both an overview of suicide rates in Japan, as well as extensive comparisons to other countries. Information on age, gender, urban/rural dichotomies, marital status, occupation, mass suicide, homicide & suicide, & pacts are described. The author also describes classical theories of suicide (Freud, Menniger, Durkheim), & revised theories for Japan’s suicidal patterns. […]

The author applies the insights derived from studies of family processes, especially those relevant to suicide, to the mass suicides &/or murders in Guyana. Family characteristics of suicidal behaviour also found at Jonestown were: 1) a closed family system; 2) domination of the family by a fragile member; 3) an atmosphere of depression & aggression; […]

Reports an instance of mass suicide committed by female members (aged 25-67 yrs) of a local religious cult following the leader’s death in Japan in 1986. The case is discussed from the following viewpoints: (1) a Japanese feudal form of suicide called Junshi (suicide committed by subordinates after the feudal lord’s death); (2) religion & […]

Discusses the threat of nuclear self-destruction as an outgrowth of humankind’s group life, setting out 5 conditions leading to mass suicide. Suggests that these conditions, which include national communities of potential victims who seem helpless to redirect their leaders; polarized ideological positions used to justify a holocaust; terror of surviving a fate worse than death; […]

This paper takes exception to much of the literature on Jonestown which implies that the residents died for essentially the same reason. This paper, using Durkheim’s typology, shows that Jonestown residents died for very different reasons & that 2 types of suicide occurred: altruistic & fatalistic. Some died because they put the group above the […]

This chapter focuses on newspaper publicity, epidemics of suicidal behaviour, & suicide pacts. The effects of newspaper strikes, newspaper publicity, & soap opera suicides on suicide rates are examined. Several studies which have researched the role of imitative behaviour in suicide epidemics are reviewed. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of suicide pacts & […]

Dr. Zilboorg feels that suicidal impulses among modern man are connected in some way to the whole history of suicide, which is a phenomenon of man’s natural behavior. He states that the earliest suicides among emerging cultures were requests to be killed, which have now evolved into the practice of self-murder. This comprehensive study contains […]

This article compares the mass suicide of the People’s Temple followers at Jonestown in Guyana in November, 1978, with the suicidal activities of the Russian “Old Believers” in the late seventeenth & early eighteenth centuries. A short review of the Great Schism in the Russian Orthodox Church is provided, followed by a summary discussion of […]

Dr. Rosenberg feels that understanding more about the psychodynamics of suicide clusters is important for developing interventions to prevent youth suicides.(p.123) At present, there is no systematic method of definining, recording or counting them, & Rosenberg stresses the urgent need for research. In the latter part of this paper, the author outlines the essentials of […]

The article discusses how cults develop & focuses on the cult of the People’s Temple led by the Rev. Jim Jones. Three ingredients that cults have in common & three factors influencing their success are given, and information about the type of person who joins cults is provided. The People’s Temple case is reviewed.

The author contends that no human endeavor can have a higher priority than the prevention of mass suicide as a result of nuclear war. He explores previous collective suicides, finding 5 common determinants: 1) sufficient group unity to allow simultaneous acts, 2) blind obedience to charismatic leaders, 3) surrender to an ideology, 4) fear of […]

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Thomas B. Marquis, a physician assigned to the Cheyenne Indian reservation during the late teens & early 1920’s, advanced the theory that mass suicide occurred at the Little Bighorn. In the process of ministering to the Indians, several who survived the battle reported seeing groups of officers shooting themselves. Marquis’ book, “Keep the Last Bullet […]

A brief article from MACLEANS, July 28, 1980, questioning the involvement of the CIA in extremist organixations.

Kenneth Baird reviews five publications dealing with the November, 1978 mass suicide of James Jones and his followersin Guyana, South America. He states that much is still unclear about the cause about this tragedy & suggests that Jones and his victims were created by values & actions similar to those of the United States toward […]

The Jonestown mass suicide is viewed from the perspective of dream condensation. The settlement was seen as a condensed version of the American experience played out over a few months. The settlement began wdith a mixture of immigrants with a utopion vision that gradually deteriorated because of sex, drugs, greed & preoccupation with self. Jones […]