DeYereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICTDE 307 



(Devereux, 1941; and pt. 7, pp. 348-356) ; adolescents think a great 

 deal about their power dreams (Devereux, 1957 b) ; the bereaved 

 think of the dead despite the fact that they should forget them 

 (pt. 4, pp. 128-186) ; witches long for their beloved victims before 

 they incite someone to kill them (pt. 7, pp. 387-426), etc. This 

 tendency to meditate and to brood is of considerable interest for an 

 understanding in depth of the seemingly mercurial (Kroeber, 1925 a) 

 Mohave personality, which, as suggested elsewhere (Devereux, 

 1939 b), manages to be also introverted precisely because it has one 

 foot firmly planted in reality — and vice versa, of course. 

 , Thus, no matter what the objective facts may be, the role which 

 the Mohave assign to a long period of psychic incubation would 

 inevitably lead them to postulate also that nearly all types of suicide 

 and nearly all concrete cases of suicide result from a prolonged pre- 

 occupation with one's grievances or longings and with the notion of 

 contriving one's own death. On the other hand, so great a cultural 

 emphasis on mulling over all important decisions — which both con- 

 trasts with and forms the depth psychological counterpart of the 

 Mohave Indian's proneness to engage in seemingly aimless activity 

 , (Kroeber, 1951) — could not exist without leaving its imprint upon 

 : the Mohave Indian's ethnic personality. Hence, it seems reasonable 

 to conclude that the informants who, in nearly every case of real 

 suicide, strenuously emphasized that the actual suicide was but the 

 culmination of a constant preoccupation with grievances, longings, 

 and the like, actually described at least one very genuine and impor- 

 tant aspect of the psychic process that caused these individuals to kill 

 themselves. 



Generally speaking, the psychic state that ultimately leads to suicide 

 is called by the Mohave ivaly idhi.'h^ which can best be translated as 

 I. "brooding." It was first described in connection with berdaches, who — 

 ; according to all informants with the exception of Pulyi : k — were 

 prone first to brood and then to kill themselves if they were teased 

 too much and were told too insistently that they did not really possess 

 , the genitalia of their adopted sex (Devereux, 1937 b). In some 

 } ways even the longing of the aging witch for his victims and other 

 : forms of preoccupation that culminate in real or alleged suicide con- 

 tain a very genuine element of brooding, in that, in each and every one 

 of these instances, the prospective "suicide" harbors feelings in which 

 fear of loss, frustrated aggressivity, inhibited resentment, and feelings 

 of guilt play an important role. 



Summing up, according to the Mohave practically all real or im- 

 puted acts of self-destruction are preceded by a period of brooding, 

 until a point is reached where even a relatively minor new annoyance, 

 or one more habitual annoyance, suffices to trigger off the suicidal act. 

 I Yet, Kroeber (1925 a) asserted that the Mohave do not brood over 

 ii grievances I 



