Perceptions of Death and Recommendations for Suicide Prevention Policies: A Case Study of Suicide Case in Gunung Kidul
- DOI
- 10.2991/assehr.k.200814.003How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- gunungkidul, indigenous Psychology, pulung gantung, suicide
- Abstract
Death is perceived differently among people from different cultures. These differences in perception stem from the variety of natural and physical context in humans’ surroundings. Based on the existing theories, death is perceived as a matter that is difficult to accept. However, there has been an intriguing phenomenon that continuously occurred in Gunungkidul, Indonesia. Official records showed that Gunungkidul has the highest prevalence of suicide in Indonesia. Locals commonly refer to this phenomenon as pulung gantung. This phenomenon should be understood using contextual perspective. Existing theories on suicide and death have not been sufficient enough to explain the phenomenon that occurs in Gunungkidul. Therefore, this current research attempted to capture the suicide phenomenon in Gunungkidul using locals’ perspective. This study used descriptive qualitative research method and indigenous psychology approach to examine this phenomenon. We used in-depth interviews to obtain data from seven informants. The results showed that locals residing in Gunungkidul perceive death as a form of transition from earth life to the afterlife. There are two attitudes of locals toward death: passive and active. These attitudes are achieved from the internalization of values from the local culture. Therefore, the choice to execute suicide by hanging is a caused a process of social learning. Based on these results, locals’ perceptions of death should be considered when drawing suicide prevention policies in Gunungkidul.
- Copyright
- © 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Muhammad Abdul Hadi AU - Rahmatika Kurnia Romadhani PY - 2020 DA - 2020/08/14 TI - Perceptions of Death and Recommendations for Suicide Prevention Policies: A Case Study of Suicide Case in Gunung Kidul BT - Proceedings of the 2nd International Seminar on Guidance and Counseling 2019 (ISGC 2019) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 11 EP - 17 SN - 2352-5398 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200814.003 DO - 10.2991/assehr.k.200814.003 ID - Hadi2020 ER -