Ritualistic Self-harming and Suicidal Behavior: Integrating Ethnography Insights to Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide

Data_interview_flagellators

Abstract

Abstract

Suicide is a complex phenomenon at the interface of psychological, social, biological, and environmental factors. The ideation-to-action framework suggests distinct intermediate processes and factors that separate individuals who seriously consider suicide and those who attempt suicide. Various theoretical models in the vein of the ideation-to-action framework suggest that individuals move towards suicidal actions by acquiring the capabilities to habituate to pain when frequently exposed to abuse and injuries. Joiner (2005) in his interpersonal theory of suicide (IPTS) suggests that the acquired capacities to bear pain play a major role in suicidal attempts in the presence of perceived burdensomeness (PB) and the feeling of thwarted belongingness (TB). Grounded in the ideation-to-action framework and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS), this study investigates suicide rates within a population in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, who engage in biannual collective self-harming rituals. The research applies an ethnographic approach by engaging in participant observation and conducting interviews with flagellants, health professionals, notables, and clerics in two cultural areas where flagellation is part of annual rituals. The study finds that self-harming in the population is limited to rituals, and flagellators and ritual participants never feel the urge to perform self-harming in isolation.

Though the suicide rate in Gilgit-Baltistan is higher than the global average, it is low among flagellators and the population exposed to flagellation. Additionally, in comparison to the global average, the suicide rate is also low in the population performing and exposed to collective self-harming rituals. We, therefore, suggested that, contrary to individualistic self-harming behaviors, collectively performed ritualistic self-harming does not produce or enhance the capacity to commit suicide. This finding is explained by the production of guilt and shame in isolated self-harming, while a sense of pride and belongingness is the outcome in collectively performed self-harming rituals. This sense of togetherness reduces the stress of thwarted belongingness and burdensomeness, and weakens the capacity for suicide. The different outcomes from collective ritualistic suggest that it should be treated as a different category of harming with different objectives and outcomes.