EXTENDED SUICIDE - A BLAPTOPHOBIC FINALIT Y

The ''extended suicide'' is nosologically unspecific. But if we exclud e cases of,extended suicide in schizophrenic and organic paranoid-hall ucinatory syndromes all other cases seem to have a similar motivationa l and dynamic background. It is based on a ''homisuicidal predispositi on-triangle'' having as basic line the obsessoid-hypernomic personalit y of the offender. The other two lines of the ''homisuicidal predispos ition-triangle'' are built by the special relationships between offend er and victim and by the subjective evidence of desparation. The most important feature of ''extended suicide'' is not an altruistic motivat ion but a blaptophobic one (fear of damaging someone). We discuss the differences between extended suicide and altruistic killing.