Causes of suicide and its prevention

 

      Causes of suicide and its prevention

 

• Introduction –>

Suicide is killing yourself on purpose, dying at your own hand. Some people kill themselves by accident, but that’s not suicide, it’s just clumsy and unfortunate. Suicide is defined as death caused by self-directed injurious behaviour with intent to die because of the behaviour.

The word suicide breaks down into the Latin words sui and caldera, which together translate to “kill oneself.” However, not all suicides are about the final end of life. For example, a righteous politician can commit political suicide by speaking publicly about an unpopular topic. We call a person who has killed himself a suicide, and a police report might tell how many suicides happen in a city each year.

                     

• A suicide attempt is a non-fatal, self-directed, potentially injurious behaviour with intent to die as a result of the behaviour. A suicide attempt might not result in injury.
• Suicidal ideation refers to thinking about, considering, or planning suicide.

 

 

Overview

Every year 703 000 people take their own life and there are many more people who attempt suicide. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide occurs throughout the lifespan and was the fourth leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds globally in 2019.

Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. In fact, over 77% of global suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries in 2019.

Suicide is a serious public health problem; however, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based, and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.

 

Who is at risk?

While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression and alcohol use disorders) and a previous suicide attempt is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-up or chronic pain and illness.

In addition, experiencing conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss and a sense of isolation are strongly associated with suicidal behaviour. Suicide rates are also high amongst vulnerable groups who experience discrimination, such as refugees and migrants; indigenous peoples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) persons; and prisoners. 

 

Methods of suicide

It is estimated that around 20% of global suicides are due to pesticide self-poisoning, most of which occur in rural agricultural areas in low- and middle-income countries. Other common methods of suicide are hanging and firearms.

As indicated in LIVE LIFE: An implementation guide for suicide prevention in countries, knowledge of the most used suicide methods is important to devise prevention strategies which have shown to be effective, such as restriction of access to means of suicide.

 

 

 

Challenges and obstacles

Stigma and taboo

Stigma, particularly surrounding mental disorders, and suicide, means many people thinking of taking their own life or who have attempted suicide are not seeking help and are therefore not getting the help they need. The prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to a lack of awareness of suicide as a major public health problem and the taboo in many societies to openly discuss it. To date, only a few countries have included suicide prevention among their health priorities and only 38 countries report having a national suicide prevention strategy.

Raising community awareness and breaking down the taboo is important for countries to make progress in preventing suicide.

 

 

 

Prevention and control

Suicides are preventable. There are a number of measures that can be taken at population, sub-population and individual levels to prevent suicide and suicide attempts. LIVE LIFE, WHO’s approach to suicide prevention, recommends the following key effective evidence-based interventions:

• limit access to the means of suicide (e.g. Pesticides, firearms, certain medications);
• interact with the media for responsible reporting of suicide.
• foster socio-emotional life skills in adolescents; and
• early identify, assess, manage, and follow up anyone who is affected by suicidal behaviours. 

These need to go together with the following foundational pillars: situation analysis, multisectoral collaboration, awareness raising, capacity building, financing, surveillance and monitoring and evaluation.

Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. These efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide.

What to do if we need support

If we are depressed, having thoughts of suicide, self-harming, or experiencing an eating disorder, know there is help and you’re not alone. While coping with painful emotions, many people might experience these issues. Talking to a mental health care provider can help determine if you have a mental illness that requires care. It can also help you identify healthy, effective coping strategies and develop skills to manage difficult feelings.

 

 

 

 

WHO response

WHO recognizes suicide as a public health priority. The first WHO world suicide report, preventing suicide: a global imperative, published in 2014, aims to increase the awareness of the public health significance of suicide and suicide attempts and to make suicide prevention a high priority on the global public health agenda. It also aims to encourage and support countries to develop or strengthen comprehensive suicide prevention strategies in a multisectoral public health approach.

Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (MH GAP) launched in 2008, which provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. In the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030, WHO Member States have committed themselves to working towards the global target of reducing the suicide rate in countries by one third by 2030.