Suicide is a person’s death from deliberate self-injury. However, there are other terms that are important when addressing the topic of suicide that can be helpful in learning and understanding this study as well. Suicide ideation are thoughts of killing oneself. Suicide attempts are behaviors intended to kill oneself. And non-suicidal self-injury is behaviors intended to injure oneself without intent to cause death. There are numerous risk factors involved in suicide that can be preventing through straightforward actions of treatment and talking openly about suicide for the person who is in distress. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US with a worldwide report of 9% of suicidal ideation at least once in their lives and 2.5% have making at least one suicide attempt with guns being the most common means of suicide in the US. Men are more likely than women to kill themselves, but women are more likely than men to make suicide attempts that do not result in death. Men usually shoot or hang themselves while women are more likely to use less lethal means. The highest rates of suicide in the US are for white males over the age of 50 and the rates of suicide for adolescents and children in the US are increasing dramatically while falling in other countries like China. Being divorced or widowed elevates suicide risk by four- or fivefold.
90% of people who attempt suicide have a psychological disorder and more than half of those who attempt suicide are depressed. Neurobiological factors include heritability of about 50% for suicide attempts, low levels of dopamine, and abnormal cortisol regulation. Social influences of suicide include economic recessions, media reports of suicide, history of multiple physical and sexual assaults, and the perceived sense of burden to others and a lack of social belonging. Psychological influences of suicide include psychological models of ineffective problem-solving, hopelessness, impulsivity, and ideation vs. action. Suicide ideation is thoughts of killing oneself while suicide actions include suicide attempts, suicide, and non-suicidal self-injury. Suicide attempts are behaviors intended to kill oneself. Suicide is death from deliberate self-injury. Non-suicidal self-injury is behaviors intended to injure oneself without intent to cause death.
The steps to preventing suicide should be taken very seriously. This can be done by talking about suicide openly and matter-of-factly which can help the person identify other ways to relieve the pain as most people are ambivalent about their suicidal intentions. The use of treatments can aide in the prevention of suicide as well. An aspect to preventing suicide is treating the associated mental health disorder that may be heavily influencing suicide ideation, attempts, or non-suicidal self-injury. Suicidality can be treated directly through CBT, DBT, and CAMS therapy approaches. Hospitalization can also be instilled to ensure safety. The broader approaches to prevent suicide are studying suicide prevention within the military and means restriction. There are higher rates of suicide in the military than the general population. Programming has encouraged and destigmatized help seeking, normalized distress, and promoted effective coping which led to a 25% drop in rates of completed suicide among Air Force Airmen. Means restriction is making highly lethal methods less available by keeping gun in locked cabinets, restricted access to lethal drugs, and the bridge design of incorporated suicide barriers.
A research article explained what the cause of this increase may be. The purpose of this research article was to inform the risks and factors of suicide in teens and point out the alarming increase of suicide rates in adolescents. Factors that influence suicide or suicide ideation in teens includes cyberbullying, the use of social media, anxiety, and depression. The article included tips for parents to help them prevent their child from acting on their suicide ideation. The top three tips included not letting their child’s depression build up or go untreated, actively listening and being there for their child, and never taking the topic of suicide lightly with their child.
Knopf, A. (2019). Suicide rates increasing; researchers especially worried about teens. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 35(8), 9–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30404