This paper reports the characteristics of suicides which occurred during the existential and the non-existential wars in Israel. It provides a first approximation of whether the suicide patterns in each war are consistent with the findings of Morselli and Durkheim, and whether their theoretical interpretations can serve as a preliminary guideline to explaining the Israeli case, which is characterized by short periods of war, social integration during some of the non-existential wars, and a sharp rise in post-war male suicide rates following all of the existential wars. Implications for further studies on the subject in Israel and elsewhere are discussed.

Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN), which typically affects female adolescents, is characterized by aberrant patterns of eating behavior, disturbances in attitudes toward and perceptions of weight and shape, and by a relentless pursuit of thinness and obsessive fears of gaining weight despite emaciation. AN is often develops into a chronic, relapsing illness. Statistics show that the annual mortality rate for anorexia nervosa is 5-6%, with suicide the second most common cause of death after medical complications. Therefore, early detection and medical-psychological intervention are of major importance for a favorable outcome.Since there are contributory genetic factors for AN I have designed a study to examine whether women suffering from AN are characterized by specific genetic characteristics: the complex configurations of ridges and creases on the skin surface of digits and palms. Positive results will show that these characteristics can contribute to the detection of individuals who are prone to develop AN. Notwithstanding the popular image of "fortune-tellers", scientific studies on epidermal configurations have been conducted for over two centuries. This field of inquiry is termed Dermatoglyphics.Method: Dermatoglyphic prints of fingers and palms were obtained from women in various stages of AN, and compared with those of healthy women.Results: A clear difference could be seen between the dermatoglyphic characteristics of women suffering from AN and healthy individuals. Hence, the aim of the research was achieved.Conclusions: The observed dermatoglyphic characteristics warrant replication for refinement. Moreover, since AN has serious medical consequences as well as a negative psychological impact, there is clearly an urgent need to implement the results in the form of an objective dermatoglyphic screening test, along with the currently available screening tests.

Aims: To provide a descriptive epidemiology of suicide in the Hebrew/Jewish population in Palestine under the British Mandate and in Israel, as a society of immigrants. Method: Information regarding the Israeli population since mid-1948 was collected from records of the Israeli Ministry of Health and the Central Bureau of Statistics. The British Mandate Administration collected and registered statistical data regarding suicide since 1938. Therefore, data for the years 1919-1937 were estimated by the author. Results: The study discerns a picture of decreasing suicide rates, in particular for suicide rates among women. In addition, analysis of suicide rates by gender reveals an uneven distribution, where more men than women died by suicide. Conclusions: The noticeable changes in the suicide rates throughout the years were influenced by the countries of birth from which the immigrants came. Thus, compared with immigrants from Europe, those from Middle Eastern and North African Muslim countries have remarkedly reduced the overall rates in Israel. The study also indicates a substantial connection of wars with the changing trends of suicide rates.

Background: The issue of domestic murder-suicide poses the question of whether these acts should be viewed as either homicide or suicide, or whether they constitute a separate category of lethal acts altogether. Since the answer to this question is essential for building better risk- assessment tools, a crucial component in understanding the psychological makeup of these murderers should be their motivation. That is, what has activated the behavioral sequence of the murder-suicide. The current study addresses this question. Methods: Domestic murder-suicide cases were sampled and divided into several categories according to the familial victim-offender relationships. The circumstances of each case and the behavior of each murderer were analyzed, including the content of their suicide notes and posts on social media¬ platforms. In addition, their behavior was compared with cases of domestic-murder and domestic-suicide alone (i.e., acts which were related solely to domestic conflicts), as well as with two other samples of cases: murder-suicide of random victims and suicide preceded by domestic non-lethal violence. Results: Analysis revealed that the main impetus that motivated the murderers in the sample was the wish to die by suicide. The wish to kill was an intermediate, secondary motive, to be accomplished as a mental prerequisite to suicide. In other words, the act of suicide was contingent upon the act of killing. Conclusions: Analysis demonstrates that murdering was an inextricable stage in the course of actions performed before carrying out the wish to die by suicide. While this specific stage is rare, it is nevertheless an additional type of action among rare and nonrare types performed on the threshold of suicide.