Leenaars Antoon A, Ben Park B C, Collins Peter I, Wenckstern Susanne, Leenaars Lindsey
J Forensic Sci. 2010 May;55(3):660-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01275.x. Epub 2010 Jan 19.
Of the 800,000 suicides worldwide every year, a small number fall under Emile Durkheim's term of altruistic suicides. Study on martyrdom has been limited. There has to date, for example, been no systematic empirical study of martyr letters. We examined 33 letters of Korean self-immolators, compared with 33 suicide notes of a matched sample of more common suicides. An analysis of intrapsychic factors (suicide as unbearable pain, psychopathology) and interpersonal factors (suicide as murderous impulses and need to escape) revealed that, although one can use the same psychological characteristics or dynamics to understand the deaths, the state of mind of martyrs is more extreme, such that the pain is reported to be even more unbearable. Yet, there are differences, such as there was no ambivalence in the altruistic notes. It is concluded that intrapsychic and interpersonal characteristics are central in understanding martyrs, probably equal to community or societal factors. More forensic study is, however, warranted.
在全球每年80万例自杀事件中，有一小部分属于埃米尔·涂尔干所说的利他性自杀。对殉道行为的研究一直很有限。例如，迄今为止，还没有对殉道者信件进行系统的实证研究。我们研究了33封韩国自焚者的信件，并与33封来自匹配样本的更常见自杀案例的遗书进行了比较。对心理内部因素（自杀是无法忍受的痛苦、精神病理学）和人际因素（自杀是杀人冲动和逃避需求）的分析表明，虽然可以用相同的心理特征或动态来理解这些死亡，但殉道者的心理状态更为极端，以至于他们所报告的痛苦甚至更难以忍受。然而，也存在差异，比如利他性信件中没有矛盾情绪。研究得出结论，心理内部和人际特征在理解殉道者方面至关重要，可能与社区或社会因素同等重要。然而，需要进行更多的法医研究。
