Phenomenology of Female Suicide in Dishmuk Region

Abstract

Suicide is one of the oldest phenomena of human societies, and since it must be studied and understood within the framework of social psychology of each society and its sub-communities, so far an important part of social studies of suicide has been focused on suicide in nomadic and rural areas. For several years, the significant number of suicides and especially women's self-immolations in the Dishmuk region of Kohgiluyeh and Boyar Ahmad provinces has been widely reflected in the media. This research sought to study and investigate suicide in this rural-nomadic area by using the qualitative method of phenomenology in Georgi's style and using semi-structured interviews. The research sample is purposeful and consists of people who have had an unsuccessful suicide or one of their relatives has committed suicide leading to death. In understanding the interviewees' perceptions of the causes and contexts of suicide attempts in this region, the researchers divided them into five main categories: 1) lack of knowledge and life management skills; 2) lack of satisfaction with private life; 3) reaching a feeling of dead end and getting stuck in social life; and 5) the personal aspects and the superficiality of some religious beliefs have been reached, each of which has been separated into more detailed concepts in the findings section and documented with quotes from the interviewees. Finally, these categories are compared with some of the theoretical literature on suicide, and the authors provide suggestions for suicide prevention.

Keywords

• women's suicide
• women's self-immolation
• dishmuk
• rural women
• female villagers