Ideological cause and hero worship related suicides: Indian perspective and changing trends during 2001–2014: An exploratory study

Abstract

Background: Of the various causes of suicides in India, very less number commit it for an ideological cause or due to hero worship (IHW). The prevalence and changing trends in IHW suicides are not much discussed. An attempt is made to draw attention to this subset of suicides during 2001–2014. Materials and Methods: Accessible data from the National Crime Bureau Records in open domain was employed for this study. As only whole sum numbers associated with state, age groups, and genders and years were only available parameters, descriptive statistics of rate of suicides, linear trend with age groups, gender, and geographical divisions are presented. Results: In 14 years period, 1,721,946 suicides with an average of 122,996 suicides per year were observed. In total, a sum of 2395 IHW related suicides was noted accounting an average 171 suicides per year was observed. The difference among genders and age group with respect to various parts of India is presented. Southern India and in particular, Tamil Nadu consistently had the highest IHW related suicides. Discussion: The possible causes behind this unique phenomenon, cultural ethos, and implication are presented. In addition, the implication of changing trends in terms of geographical distribution, age group distribution, and gender dynamics are presented and discussed.

Keywords

• Copycat suicides
• hero worship
• ideological causes
• India
• suicide