Complex suicide

Suicide
Social aspects ACEs Altruistic Bullying List of suicides attributed to bullying Copycat Dysfunctional family Emotional isolation Epidemic Identity performance Legislation Loneliness Philosophy Religious views Right to die School bullying Shame Social alienation Social defeat Social exclusion Social invisibility Social isolation Social rejection Social media and suicide Social support Toxic workplace Voluntary euthanasia Workplace bullying
Crisis Assessment of risk Beck Hopelessness Scale Crisis hotline (list) IS PATH WARM? SAD PERSONS scale Intervention Prevention Suicide attempt Suicide watch
Types and methods Assisted Bullying and suicide (list) Cop Copycat Euthanasia device Familicide Forced Hanging Honor Jauhar Jumping Mass Murder–suicide Pact Internet Pilot Poisoning Prayopavesa Prisoner suicide Rail Sallekhana Sati Self-sacrifice Senicide Complex Seppuku Sokushinbutsu Suicide attack Suicide bag Vatakkiruttal Vehicle collision
Epidemiology Gender differences LGBTQ people Mormon Methods People with autism Rate by country Seasonal effects Suicidal person Youth mental health crisis Youth suicide
History List of suicides A–M N–Z LGBTQ suicides Suicide in antiquity List of suicides in the 21st century
In warfare Banzai charge Kamikaze Suicide mission
Related phenomena Anguish Alcoholism Anhedonia Animal loss Anxiety disorder Asperger syndrome Autism spectrum Conditions comorbid to autism Biology of depression Epigenetics of depression Causes of mental disorders Chronic condition Chronic pain Coping Coping planning Depression (mood) Diseases of despair Diseases of poverty Echo chamber Existential crisis Financial crisis Grief suicide bereavement Ideation Interpersonal relationships Locations Major depressive disorder Mental disorder Mental health first aid Neurodevelopmental disorder Non-suicidal self-injury Perfectionism Personal finance Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Poverty Psychological first aid Psychological stress Psychological trauma Schizophrenia Self-harm Self-hatred Substance abuse Suffering Suicidal ambivalence Suicide and the Internet Suicide and trauma Suicide awareness Suicide in colleges in the United States Suicide in music subcultures Suicide note Suicide survivor Suicide terminology Suicide tourism Suicidology Warning signs of suicide
By country Rate by country Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Cameroon Canada China France Greenland India Iran Ireland Japan Lesotho Lithuania Nepal Pakistan Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom United States
Organizations Compassion & Choices Death with Dignity National Center Dignitas Exit International Final Exit Network Hemlock Society

Complex suicide, distinguished from simple suicide, is the act of intentionally causing one's death with more than one method, either simultaneously or sequentially. Suicide is a pervasive public health concern among the leading causes of death worldwide and remains geographically heterogeneous. Despite the relative ubiquity of simple suicides, complex suicides are rare, only estimated to account for between 1.5 and five percent of suicides. Though few studies have examined the prevalence or base rates of complex suicide, Demirci and associates (2009) notably found that 1.8% of cases from a pool of 878 constituted a complex suicide. Similarly, Racette and Sauvageau (2007) found that 2.1% of 893 cases in Quebec constituted a complex suicide.

Complex suicides are further distinguished from complicated suicides, which are characterized by the victim sustaining unintentional secondary trauma resulting from a single suicide method (e.g., falling injuries, drowning). Complicated suicides may also be more infrequent or less identified; Törő and Pollak (2009) found that of the 1217 suicides investigated by the Budapest Institute of Forensic Medicine, only six (0.5%) were identified as such, compared to 54 (4.4%) as complex. Due to the combined methods used by complex suicide victims, researchers have highlighted the problems related to distinguishing between this self-inflicted behavior and homicides due to resulting ambiguity.

Most research on complex suicide, of which there is little, is largely sourced from case studies and series published in forensic pathological literature by Eastern and Southern Europe and Western Asia authors.