...To calling dying of fright a "chain reaction" is to rely on various beliefs about how things work.
You make great points. But i do think dying of fright is classified as suicide. I still think it's trauma and bad genetics. People/Animals get scared all the time but almost all survive the situation with the exception of a few. Animals understand that a predator wishes to do them harm that's why they run....I think your statement would stick if the Animal just sat there as the predator ate it. Then i would Classify it as suicide.
Well, for anyone who *hasn't* died of fright, we can only speculate about death's nature, and whether it is or isn't a choice. I think that the existence of the 'self' is fundamentally tied to an ongoing need for some entity (the ego) to intervene and make decisions in life, including when to die.
The human ego has an incredible capacity to fool itself, taking risks -- literally risking death in some cases -- and putting itself in harm's way. How many intelligent people have wilfully ignored exhaustion and "accidentally" drowned? Or crashed while driving at excessive speeds for fun? Or OD'd because they guesstimated that their drugs were more diluted? Probably millions around the world every year. But none of it counts. It only counts as suicide when death occurs, it's symbolic and ostentatious, and probably presented with a note to loved ones, which may or may not make nice reading.
How do we distinguish between stupidity and deliberate suicidal behaviour? Is 'stupidity' just another narrative that observers invent in order to rationalise our fear of the unknown?
And what about all the people who knowingly risk death but survive? Daredevils? Or maybe we're just witnessing one of many possible worlds, and in this case they were lucky? Does survival against the odds make someone smarter or less suicidal?
^Open questions. I don't claim to have all the answers. Challenges welcome.