If the first step to suicide were ideation, which is usually the result of prolonged psychological isolation, then wartime simply can't provide the proper enviroment for it.
During a war everyone huddles together trying to survive, and social and familial ties could become strong enough that even the thought of suicide would seem offensive, as if one were abandoning friends and family to their own luck. And when you have people running around shouting orders, bullets flying and bombs falling there's simply not enough time to think about anything else.
What people seem to dread being is left to themselves, not their conditions. Which is why only reason why war has ever had any defenders, aside from bureaucrats: it gives "purpose" to men.
Recently enough, Ars ran an article on a study (10.1126/science.1250830), which I'm not sure how appropriate is to the discussion of suicide, but sums up this point quite well:
In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more, and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative.
> That's interesting, but what's puzzling me the most is how less people commit suicide during a war.
Just speculating, but, I can immediately see two obvious potential contributing factors to lower suicide statistics (one of which isn't actually about reduced incidence of suicide, per se): during a war, there's a lot more opportunity for suicide-that-doesn't-get-categorized-as-suicide, and there is also a additional opportunity (compared to peacetime) for things that provide short-term, immediate purpose even if they don't deal with the underlying problems.
Depression and anger are linked, and when I've been depressed it's often manifested as anger at myself. Sometimes, finding an outside focal point for anger can offer relief from depression. It is easier to find a focal point for anger that other people share, and war can be a common enemy for a large population.
During a war everyone huddles together trying to survive, and social and familial ties could become strong enough that even the thought of suicide would seem offensive, as if one were abandoning friends and family to their own luck. And when you have people running around shouting orders, bullets flying and bombs falling there's simply not enough time to think about anything else.
What people seem to dread being is left to themselves, not their conditions. Which is why only reason why war has ever had any defenders, aside from bureaucrats: it gives "purpose" to men.
Recently enough, Ars ran an article on a study (10.1126/science.1250830), which I'm not sure how appropriate is to the discussion of suicide, but sums up this point quite well:
In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more, and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative.