section_path: Risk factors/Rational
section_name: Rational
paragraph_text: Rational
  
  Rational suicide is the reasoned taking of one's own life. However, some consider suicide as never being rational.
  
  Euthanasia and assisted suicide are accepted practices in a number of countries among those who have a poor quality of life without the possibility of getting better. They are supported by the legal arguments for a right to die.
  
  The act of taking one's life for the benefit of others is known as altruistic suicide. An example of this is an elder ending his or her life to leave greater amounts of food for the younger people in the community. Suicide in some Inuit cultures has been seen as an act of respect, courage, or wisdom.
  
  A suicide attack is a political or religious action where an attacker carries out violence against others which they understand will result in their own death. Some suicide bombers are motivated by a desire to obtain martyrdoms or are religiously motivated. Kamikaze missions were carried out as a duty to a higher cause or moral obligation. Murder–suicide is an act of homicide followed within a week by suicide of the person who carried out the act.
  
  Mass suicides are often performed under social pressure where members give up autonomy to a leader (see Notable cases below). Mass suicides can take place with as few as two people, often referred to as a suicide pact. In extenuating situations where continuing to live would be intolerable, some people use suicide as a means of escape. Some inmates in Nazi concentration camps are known to have killed themselves during the Holocaust by deliberately touching the electrified fences.