Brodier, Philippe <br/><br/>
Workplace suicide 

 -  2011.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 43 
<br/><br/> Only over the past ten years has workplace suicide made the headlines. As a consequence of such a tragic trend, various public figures of all stripes have voiced their opinion about it and attempted to interpret it as a result of either self-interest or an ideological stance, which has led to a very biased understanding of the phenomenon. With a view to dismantling prejudices, this study aims at throwing light on the gap between suicide and corporate management by explaining their links and dependencies using various analytical tools and concepts. The metapsychology of nervous breakdowns together with a narcissistic inclination can account for committing suicide. Thus, committing suicide in one’s workplace does not turn out to be the result of unbearable and heavy stress, nor is it the tragic outcome of constraints produced by capitalism. Beyond the commonly used analytical concepts, stereotypes are often fostered when people respond to tragic events such as the suicides that have occurred in major companies like Renault or France Télécom by asking why did this happen there and not elsewhere? In our liberal society and the age of mass individualism in which every man and woman is free to give meaning to their life, when work is devoid of meaning, it is sometimes difficult to resist taking a way out.