self-destruction

[ self-di-struhk-shuh n, self- ]

/ ˈsɛlf dɪˈstrʌk ʃən, ˌsɛlf- /

the destruction or ruination of oneself or one's life.

suicide.

Origin of self-destruction

First recorded in 1580–90

The British aristocracy is littered with stories of unmitigated spendthrifts who seem bent on self-destruction.

The Secrets of Britain’s Wildest Aristocrats |Tom Sykes |October 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The game has become our modern Passion Play, self-destruction as our highest form of heroism.

Two New Films Preach Our Nation’s Corrosive Gridiron Gospel |Steve Almond |September 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
But he later expanded on this idea, and said he suffered from what he called the self-destruction switch.

Two Decades Later, Wu-Tang MC U-God ‘Keeps Getting Better’ |Eli Lake |July 19, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Eli Lake talks with the veteran MC about his new record, ‘Keynote Speaker,’ and ‘self-destruction.’

Two Decades Later, Wu-Tang MC U-God ‘Keeps Getting Better’ |Eli Lake |July 19, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

His life became a morass of anger and self-destruction: suicide attempts, gang activity.

Carmine Galasso’s ‘Crosses’: Childhoods Robbed by the Church |The Daily Beast |March 11, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
And he found that he could not destroy the bust: for the act would have about it too ominous a flavor of self-destruction.

The Penalty |Gouverneur Morris
And as these dogs are worth anywhere from $100 up, the driver has much ado to prevent the self-destruction of his team.

In to the Yukon |William Seymour Edwards
Religion strengthened it, as it is so apt to strengthen any form of self-destruction, short of technical suicide.

Young Lives |Richard Le Gallienne
With a precipice on one side of his house and a potato-field on the other, what could save him from despair and self-destruction?

Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 118, August, 1887 |Various
You are right, she did take it herself, and it was a suicide; but who terrified her into this act of self-destruction?

The Leavenworth Case |Anna Katherine Green

self-destruction

the act or an instance of self-destructing