MURDER-SUICIDE - AN EXTENDED SUICIDE

The author reviews the syndrome of murder-suicide, focusing particularly on the jealous-paranoia type. After touching upon statistical data and psychoanalytical, sociological, and psychiatric theories, he proposes that a better name for this syndrome would be extended suicide. The author contends that the murderer acts primarily out of a realistic sense of loss, which might be, at times, compounded by psychological and sociological factors. In his view, the aggressor/killer is unable to accept the failure of what he thought was a good and satisfactory relationship. The killer is viewed as a fragile, dependent, ambivalent, aggressive individual who hides behind a facade of self-assertion, and is unable to withstand the reality of an unexpected rejection and, possibly, a drastic life change. He commits suicide after killing his extended Self.