s institutions, may not consider themselves constricted by its rules. Rules which had been socialized into other members of the society regulating and often prohibiting suicide would not affect such individuals. Instead, they would be regulated by their own rules of conduct and would act according to their own private beliefs and interests.
The second type of suicide, altruistic, results from excessive integration of individuals into society. This creates either total inability, or insufficient ability, for individuals to distinguish themselves as separate people from the group. As a result of the lack of ability to recognize separateness, the behavior of the individual is almost completely controlled and determined by the society. Such a person could commit suicide as a sacrifice to benefit the collective good of the group.
Anomic, the third type of suicide identified by Durkheim, results when individuals suffer from feelings of alienation produced by a lack of societal regulation on the individual. This produces a lack of formal or socially conforming behavior. Under usual conditions, societal regulation provides a sense of equilibrium and limits for people. When changes, especially abrupt and unexpected changes, occur in individuals' situations, their equilibrium is disrupted and a state of deregulation is created. In this state of deregulation, the anomic individual is left without clear expectations and norms to guide behavior. Suicide is one possible response. In Durkheim's theory, this typology differentiates between causes of suicide produced by circumstances of integration and regulation within society and the major institutions of the society. Durkheim's approach remains the prominent theory today.
Research and clinical evidence have shown that certain groups are at particularly high risk for suicide. For example, individuals who are severely depressed are many times more likely to commit suicide ...