I.

Introduction

Suicide, intentional, self-inflicted death. Suicide, a distinctly human act, appears in all societies
from the earliest times. Major differences have existed, however, in societies' attitudes toward
suicide, in the way in which suicide is committed, and in the rates of frequency at various times
in history.

People who attempt or complete suicide usually suffer from extreme emotional pain and distress
and feel unable to cope with their problems. They are likely to suffer from mental illness,
particularly severe depression, and to feel hopeless about the future.

IV. Causes

Suicidal behavior has numerous and complex causes. The biology of the brain, genetics,
psychological traits, and social forces all can contribute to suicide. Although people commonly
attribute suicide to external circumstances, such as divorce, loss of a job, or failure in school,
most experts believe these events are triggers rather than causes in themselves.

The majority of people who kill themselves suffer from depression that is often undiagnosed and
untreated. Because depression so often underlies suicide, studying the causes of depression can
help scientists understand the causes of suicide (see Depression: Causes). Other mental illnesses,
such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders may also contribute to suicidal
behavior.

Suicide Facts
Encarta Explanation

I. Introduction

Suicide, intentional, self-inflicted death. Suicide, a distinctly human act, appears in all societies
from the earliest times. Major differences have existed, however, in societies' attitudes toward
suicide, in the way in which suicide is committed, and in the rates of frequency at various times
in history.

People who attempt or complete suicide usually suffer from extreme emotional pain and distress
and feel unable to cope with their problems. They are likely to suffer from mental illness,
particularly severe depression, and to feel hopeless about the future.
II. Prevalence and Trends

Suicide ranks as a leading cause of death worldwide, making it a significant public-health

problem. In addition, some researchers believe official statistics underestimate the actual number
of suicides.

A. In the United States

In the United States, suicide ranks in the top ten causes of death, accounting for about 1.5 percent
of all deaths. The annual number of suicides has averaged about 30,000 since the late 1980s and
has consistently exceeded the annual number of homicides. The suicide rate (number of suicide
deaths per 100,000 people) in the United States has remained relatively stable since the 1950s,
ranging between 10 and 13 per 100,000 each year.

The suicide rate varies by age group. Of all age groups, the elderly have the highest suicide rates,
particularly white men over the age of 75. The increased rate of suicide among elderly people
appears mostly due to the debilitating effects of physical illness, loss of social roles and
relationships, and untreated depression.

Suicide rates for people between the ages of 15 and 24 tripled between 1950 and 1993. The
reasons for this increase are not entirely clear, but researchers have associated it with a greater
prevalence of mental illness in young people, an increased use of drugs in this population, and
the increased availability of firearms in the home.

Suicide rates also vary between men and women and between ethnic groups. Men complete
about 80 percent of all suicides. However, women attempt suicide three times as frequently as
men. Among men, Native Americans have the highest suicide rate, followed by whites. White
men and women account for about 90 percent of all suicides.

B. In Other Countries

Canada's suicide rate has historically been similar to or slightly higher than that of the United
States. About 3800 suicides are recorded in Canada each year. Countries with the highest suicide
rates include Latvia (42.5 suicides per 100,000 people), Lithuania (42.1), Estonia (38.2), Russia
(37.8), and Hungary (35.9). Countries with the lowest suicide rates include Guatemala (0.5), the
Philippines (0.5), Albania (1.4), the Dominican Republic (2.1), and Armenia (2.3). However, an
accurate comparison of suicide rates among countries is difficult because of the unreliability of
official suicide statistics and varying methods of certifying how deaths occurred.

III. Methods
Methods of suicide vary from culture to culture. Hanging is the leading method of suicide
worldwide. In the United States about 60 percent of all suicides are committed with firearms. In
Canada, where guns are less accessible, about 30 percent of suicides are committed with guns.
Poisoning, such as taking an overdose of medication, accounts for about 18 percent of U.S.
suicides. Researchers believe that a small proportion of fatal single-occupant automobile
accidents are actually suicides. Only 15 to 25 percent of those who kill themselves leave suicide
notes.

IV. Causes

Suicidal behavior has numerous and complex causes. The biology of the brain, genetics,
psychological traits, and social forces all can contribute to suicide. Although people commonly
attribute suicide to external circumstances, such as divorce, loss of a job, or failure in school,
most experts believe these events are triggers rather than causes in themselves.

The majority of people who kill themselves suffer from depression that is often undiagnosed and
untreated. Because depression so often underlies suicide, studying the causes of depression can
help scientists understand the causes of suicide (see Depression: Causes). Other mental illnesses,
such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders may also contribute to suicidal
behavior.

A. Biological Perspectives

Research indicates that suicidal behavior runs in families, suggesting that genetic and biological
factors play a role in one's suicide risk. Among one community of Amish people in
Pennsylvania, almost three-quarters of all suicides that occurred over a 100-year period were in
just four families. Studies of twins reared apart provide some support for a genetic influence in
suicide.

People may inherit a genetic predisposition to certain psychiatric disorders, such as

schizophrenia and alcoholism, that increase the risk of suicide. In addition, an inability to control
impulsive and violent behavior may have biological roots. Research has found lower than normal
levels of a substance associated with the brain chemical serotonin in people with impulsive
aggressiveness.

B. Psychological Theories

In the early 1900s Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud developed some of the first
psychological theories of suicide. He emphasized the role of hostility turned against the self.
American psychiatrist Karl Menninger elaborated on Freud's ideas. He suggested that all suicides
have three interrelated and unconscious dimensions: revenge/hate (a wish to kill),
depression/hopelessness (a wish to die), and guilt (a wish to be killed).

An American psychologist considered to be a pioneer in the modern study of suicide, Edwin

Schneidman, has described several common characteristics of suicides. These include a sense of
unbearable psychological pain, a sense of isolation from others, and the perception that death is
the only solution to problems about which one feels hopeless and helpless.

Cognitive theorists, who study how people process information, emphasize the role of inflexible
thinking or tunnel vision (life is awful, death is the only alternative) and an inability to generate
solutions to problems. According to psychologists, many suicide attempts are a symbolic cry for
help, an effort to reach out and receive attention.

C. Sociological Theories

Most social scientists believe that a society's structure and values can influence suicide rates.
French sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that suicide rates are related to social integration, that
is, the degree to which an individual feels part of a larger group. Durkheim found suicide was
more likely when a person lacked social bonds or had relationships disrupted through a sudden
change in status, such as unemployment.

As one example of the significance of social bonds, suicide rates among adults are lower for
married people than for divorced, widowed, or single people. Studies consistently show that
although suicidal people do not appear to have greater life stress than others, they lack effective
strategies to cope with stress.

In addition, they are more likely than others to have had family loss and turmoil, such as the
death of a family member, separation or divorce of their parents, or child abuse or neglect. The
parents of those who attempt suicide have a greater frequency of mental illness and substance
abuse than other parents. However, suicide occurs in all types of families, including those with
little apparent turmoil.

Fluctuations in social and economic conditions frequently result in changes in the suicide rate. In
the United States, for example, suicide rates declined during World War I (1914-1918) and
World War II (1939-1945), when unemployment was low, but increased during the Great
Depression of the 1930s, when unemployment was high.

Occasionally, people commit suicide as a form of protest against the policies of a particular
government. Mass suicides, in which large numbers of people kill themselves at the same time,
are extremely rare. The most famous mass suicides occurred in AD 73 at Masada in what is now
southern Israel, when 960 Jews killed themselves rather than face enslavement by Roman
captors; and in 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, when more than 900 cult members committed
suicide on the orders of their leader, Jim Jones.
V. Prevention

Because depression precedes most suicides, early recognition of depression and treatment
through medication and psychotherapy are important ways of preventing suicide (see
Depression: Treatment). In general, suicide prevention efforts aim to identify people with the
highest risk of suicide and to intervene before these individuals become suicidal.

A. Risk Factors

Certain aspects of a person's life increase the likelihood that the person will attempt or complete
suicide. Studies have shown that one of the best predictors of suicidal intent is hopelessness.
People with a sense of hopelessness may come to perceive suicide as the only alternative to a
pained existence.

People with mental illnesses, substance-abuse disorders such as alcoholism or drug dependence,
and behavioral disorders also have a higher risk of suicide. In fact, people suffering from
diagnosable mental illnesses complete about 90 percent of all suicides.

Physical illness also increases a person's risk of suicide, especially when the illness is
accompanied by depression. About one-third of adult suicide victims suffered from a physical
illness at the time of their death.

Other risk factors include previous suicide attempts, a history of suicide among family members,
and social isolation. People who live alone or lack close friends may not receive emotional
support that would otherwise protect them from despair and irrational thinking during difficult
periods of life.

B. Signs of Suicidal Intent

About 80 percent of people who complete suicide give warning signs, although the warnings
may not be overt or obvious. These usually take the form of talking about suicide or a wish to
die; statements about hopelessness, helplessness, or worthlessness; preoccupation with death;
and references to suicide in drawings, school essays, poems, or notes.

Other danger signs include sudden, dramatic, and unexplained changes in behavior and what are
called termination behaviors. These behaviors include an interest in putting personal affairs in
order and giving away prized possessions, often accompanied by statements of sadness or
despair.
A person who observes these signs should ask the person in question whether he or she is
thinking of suicide. If so, the observer should refer the person to a trained mental health
professional to reduce the immediate risk of suicide and to treat the problems that led the person
to consider suicide. Most suicides can be prevented because the suicidal state of mind is usually
temporary.

VI. Impact on Others

Suicide has a devastating emotional impact on surviving family members and friends. The
intentional, sudden, and violent nature of the person's death often makes others feel abandoned,
helpless, and rejected. A family member or friend may have the added burden of discovering the
body of the suicide victim.

Parents often suffer exaggerated feelings of shame and guilt. Because of the social stigma, or
shame, surrounding suicide, survivors may avoid talking to others about the person who died,
and others may avoid the survivors. Despite these extra problems, research has shown that
suicide survivors go through the same grieving process as other bereaved people and eventually
recover from grief. Support groups may be particularly helpful for grieving suicide survivors.

Some evidence suggests that highly publicized suicides, those of celebrities, for example, may
cause vulnerable individuals, especially teens, to kill themselves. However, these findings are
controversial and other studies have found no such imitative effect.

VII. Attitudes Toward Suicide

Many people feel uneasy talking about suicide, in part because of a social taboo on talking or
learning about suicide. One popular myth is that suicide should not be mentioned around
depressed people because it would plant the idea in their minds. But most mental health
professionals agree that people who have suicidal wishes can benefit by talking about their
feelings.

Attitudes toward suicide have varied widely throughout history. In ancient Egypt people
considered suicide a humane way to escape intolerable conditions. For centuries in Japan people
respected instances of hara-kiri (ritual suicide with a dagger) as a way for a shamed individual to
make amends for failure or desertion of duty. During World War II Japanese Kamikaze pilots
considered it an honor to perform suicidal missions by crashing their airplanes into an enemy
target. In India women were once expected to burn themselves on a funeral pyre after their
husband died, a custom known as suttee.

In many other societies, however, suicide has been strongly condemned or made illegal. The
Greek philosopher Plato strongly disapproved of suicide. In general, ancient Roman
governments opposed suicide when the state stood to lose assets, such as soldiers and slaves.
Suicide was clearly prohibited by Judaism unless one faced capture by an enemy, as in the mass
suicides at Masada.
Christianity has generally condemned suicide as a failure to uphold the sanctity of human life. In
the 4th century AD, Saint Augustine decreed suicide a sin. By the Middle Ages, the Roman
Catholic Church forbade the burial of suicide victims in consecrated ground. English law
considered suicide to be a crime punishable by the forfeiture of goods and property to the
government unless the suicide was the result of madness or illness. This criminal view of suicide
emigrated to colonial America and was adopted by individual states.

Today, with more modern views of mental illness and concern for the rights of survivors, most
major religions offer compassion and traditional funeral rites in cases of suicide. No U.S. state
now considers suicide a crime. Helping someone complete suicide, however, is criminally
punishable in several states.

http://www.a1b2c3.com/suilodge/facenc1.htm

http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/phil.pdf

Suicide prevention
Magnitude of the problem

Suicide is among the top 20 leading causes of death globally for all ages. Every year, nearly one
million people die from suicide.

Risk factors

Mental illness, primarily depression and alcohol use disorders, abuse, violence, loss, cultural and
social background, represent major risk factors for suicide.

Prevention

Restriction of access to means of suicide, such as toxic substances and firearms, identification
and management of persons suffering from mental and substance use disorders, improved access
to health and social services, and responsible reporting of suicide by the media are effective
strategies for the prevention of suicide.

Suicide prevention (SUPRE)

The problem

 Every year, almost one million people die from suicide; a "global" mortality rate of 16
per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds.
 In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is among the
three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years in some countries, and the
second leading cause of death in the 10-24 years age group; these figures do not include
suicide attempts which are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide.
  Suicide worldwide is estimated to represent 1.8% of the total global burden of disease in
1998, and 2.4% in countries with market and former socialist economies in 2020.
 Although traditionally suicide rates have been highest among the male elderly, rates
among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group
at highest risk in a third of countries, in both developed and developing countries.
 Mental disorders (particularly depression and alcohol use disorders) are a major risk
factor for suicide in Europe and North America; however, in Asian countries
impulsiveness plays an important role. Suicide is complex with psychological, social,
biological, cultural and environmental factors involved.

Suicide rates per 100,000 by country, year and sex

Country Year Males Females

PHILIPPINES 93 2.5 1.7