Protest suicide: Considerations for psychiatrists and psychologists

On 26 December 2022, Mohammad Moradi, a 38-year-old Iranian student living in France, died by suicide to draw global attention to Iranian protests against the ruling power. Before he threw himself into the Rhône River, Moradi shared a video and said: “when you see this, I will be dead. I don’t have any mental disorders or life problems. I have a good life, but I can’t be unresponsive to what is happening in Iran. I want to sacrifice myself for my country”. Besides the social and political aspects of this tragic event, his suicide highlighted the need to take a look again at suicide as an act of protest. Protest Suicide is a rarely studied social issue especially, through the lens of psychiatry and mental health. Although political issues from riots to revolutions could contribute to mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (1), suicide is still one of the most controversial consequences. Similarly, pure medicalization of protest suicide is not possible. The sheer complexity of self-inflicted death and its confluence with human concepts, such as freedom and self-sacrifice make this subject more intricate and protest suicide has also been referred to as “altruistic suicide” (2). However, psychiatric aspects of suicide should not be ignored in the shadow of heroism or protest.