Posthomicidal suicide in fiction literature

Posthomicidal suicide (PHSU) is a rare occurrence in life. Despite this, it is presented in cultural works, in particular, there are works describing the PHSU in sculpture and opera performances. The purpose of the study is to find cases of PHSU in Russian-language fiction and to conduct a comparative analysis with scientific publications. Materials and methods. Considered 10 literary texts published in Russian in 1880-2013 (novels - 6, stories - 2, narrative - 1, poem -1); in nine cases it was a completed PHSU, in one it was an attempt. Results. Most often, PHSU met in detective novels by famous foreign writers (A. Christie, J. Simenon, R. Stout), translated into Russian, although it was the subject of investigation in three works (in two cases as corpus delicti and in one as a possible plot). In the domestic literature, PHSU was described extremely rarely, despite the mass of modern research on artistic thanatology in Russia. According to our data, the most informative of the Russian authors are the works of F.M. Dostoevsky, who can rightfully be considered not only an outstanding psychopathologist among writers, but also an unsurpassed suicidologist. According to the classification, nine texts usually described spousal (partnership) or family PHSUs, the death toll, as a rule, is two. The time criteria of the PHSU (24-72 hours) met in seven cases out of nine. The connection between murder and suicide allowed us to qualify two more PHSUs as post-murder suicides. The aggressors were more often younger than their victims, possibly due to the absence of children’s PHSUs, in four cases out of nine they were committed by women and they occurred outside the home. The most common methods of murder and suicide were firearms (pistols), their coincidence was found in five cases. Four aggressors (psychosis, epilepsy, depression, alcohol abuse) and three victims (psychosis, two cases of alcohol abuse) suffered from mental disorders, four murderers had suicidal thoughts and intentions; in alcoholic intoxication were respectively - two and four heroes of the works. In literary texts, many topical scientific and practical issues are raised: a rare way of PHSU (car accident of an aggressor and victim), tragic death of loved ones, unequal marriage and domestic violence as factors of murder and suicide, stigmatization (selfstigmatization) and post-traumatic stress disorders in children of participants of PHSU, motives PHSU in adolescents and their prevention; "Perfect kill" and "perfect way to kill". Conclusion. PHSU in the literature is described quite realistically, which can be used for scientific, practical and educational purposes.