The Covid-19 Pandemic has contributed to increased feelings of isolation and vulnerability, and thereby led to a significant rise in suicidal thoughts coupled with a sense of loneliness, especially among such individuals who had to stay alone during the lockdown.
As the World Health Organisation (WHO) is set to observe World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10, it shall be remembered here that we all can play a role in preventing suicides. By creating hope through action, we can signal to people experiencing suicidal thoughts that there is hope and that we care and want to support them.
You can help give someone hope by showing that you care. All of us can play a role, no matter how small. We may never know what we do that makes a difference. We all can reach out and ask somebody. You do not need to tell them what to do or have solutions, but simply making the time and space to listen to someone about their experiences of distress or suicidal thoughts can help. Small talk can save lives and create a sense of connection and hope in somebody who may be struggling.
Stigma is a major barrier to help-seeking. Changing the narrative around suicide through the promotion of hope can create a more compassionate society where those in need feel more comfortable in coming forward to seek help. We can all do something to live in a world where suicide.
Suicide has a domino effect
What we, in technical terms, call the Werther effect can be seen as a domino effect in context of suicides. Every 45 seconds someone takes their life, an estimated 703,000 people a year around the world. For each suicide approximately 135 people suffer intense grief or are otherwise affected resulting in 108 million people, annually, profoundly impacted by suicidal behaviours. For every suicide, 25 people make a suicide attempt and many more have serious thoughts of suicide – a trend that makes it all the more important for the media to report suicides responsibly and ensure that their reportage isn’t encouraging more suicides.
Cycle Around the Globe initiative
Cycle Around the Globe aims to raise awareness for suicide prevention efforts around the world over the period surrounding World Suicide Prevention Day and works to support the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s work promoting evidence-based action in order to reduce the incidence of suicide and suicidal behaviour. This campaign is about finding mechanisms to spread the message exponentially into areas where there is limited knowledge of these life/death issues.
We want our global community to engage with each other and to join together to spread awareness of suicide prevention. From the 10th September- 10th October 2021, we are asking you to cycle any distance on any road, track or gym and help us work together to prevent suicide.
Last year over 201,000 miles were cycled in over 40 countries, which is equivalent to eight times around the world, but this year IASP wants to top that!
Key facts
More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. For every suicide there are many more people who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the general population.
Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds.
77% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally.
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) 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. By far the strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt.
Prevention and control
Suicides are preventable. 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;early identify, assess, manage and follow up anyone who is affected by suicidal behaviours.
These need to go hand-in-hand with the following foundational pillars: situation analysis, multisectoral collaboration, awareness raising, capacity building, financing, surveillance and monitoring and evaluation.
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.
The author is a Senior Consultant, Psychiatry at Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Science.