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Most lethal methods of suicide

For information on the most lethal methods of suicide, a
good starting point is the statistics on the number of
successful suicides by method (see Suicide statistics).
There is also a much published study from 19951, where
291 lay persons and 10 forensic pathologists rated the
lethality, time, and agony for 28 methods of suicide for
4,117 cases of completed suicide in Los Angeles County
in the period 1988-1991.

They were asked to rate each method as follows:

Lethality: How likely is the method to cause death

(where 0% is no chance, and 100% is absolute
certainty)

Time: An opinion on the length of time the method

will require to produce death

Agony: The amount of pain and discomfort you

would expect from the use of the particular method
(ranked on scale of 0 to 100 where 0 is no
pain/discomfort and 100 is the most pain/discomfort
possible)

The outcome of the study is presented below, ranked by

order of lethality from just the pathologists who
participated in the study (the lay persons tended to
drastically overestimate the lethality of methods).

Anyone reading this table to identify a suitable method of

suicide is advised to read carefully the information on the
dangers of the suicide methods mentioned on this site,
and visit the section Help me, because statistically you
are much more likely to hurt yourself by attempting
suicide than to succeed killing yourself (see Suicide
statistics for more information).

Lethality Time
Rank Method Name Agony
(%) (min)

1 Shotgun to head 99.0% 1.7 5.5

2 Cyanide 97.0% 1.8 51.5
3 Gunshot of head 97.0% 2.5 13
4 Shotgun to chest 96.4% 1.4 16
5 Explosives 96.4% 1.6 3.75
6 Hit by train 96.2% 17.92 7.08
7 Jump from height 93.4% 4.56 17.78
8 Gunshot of chest 89.5% 7 21.7
9 Hanging 89.5% 7 25.5
10 Auto crash 78.5% 20.5 30
11 Household toxins 77.5% 24 54.5
12 Set fire to self 76.5% 57 95
13 Structure fire 73.0% 52.5 91.5
14 Carbon Monoxide 71.0% 21.5 18
15 Hit by truck/auto 70.0% 19 63
16 Electrocution 65.5% 2.4 72
Gunshot of
17 65.0% 69 74
abdomen
Drowning
18 63.0% 18.5 79
ocean/lake
19 Stab of chest 58.5% 96 76
20 Cut throat 51.5% 15.5 86
Overdose illegal
21 49.4% 116.25 5.25
drugs
Plastic bag over
22 23.0% 7 23
head
23 Drowning bathtub 21.5% 18.5 79
Drowning
24 21.5% 18.5 79
swimming pool
25 Stab of abdomen 12.5% 252 78
Overdose
26 12.3% 129 8.5
prescription drugs
Overdose non-
27 6.0% 456 22.5
prescription drugs
Cut
28 6.0% 105 71
wrists/arms/legs

In the study, there were significant differences between

the methods chosen by females and males, with males
choosing the most lethal and quickest methods, and
females selecting methods varying in lethality, duration,
and agony.

However, it should be noted that different studies

produce different results of the fatality of different
methods. For instance, JJ Card2 estimated the lethality
of suicide by guns as only 91.6% effective, and Farberow
and Shneidman3 had it as low as 84.7%. The Hawaii
Department of Health (1990) had it even lower at 73%.
The same studies showed the effectiveness of hanging
to vary between 77% and 88%.

Whilst individual studies might differ in terms of the

actual mortality rate, they are fairly consistent that
firearms and hanging are the two most effective
methods. Jumping is also very effective if done from
sufficient height.

However, the official data does not provide any detailed

information on how to use any one method, information
on the pros and cons, details on the likely pain of any
method, or the likely pitfalls.

The Peaceful Pill Handbook by Nitschke & Stewart4 also

ranks a number of suicide methods using its "Reliability
& Peacefulness (RP)" test, although they only rank
methods involving drugs or asphyxiation.

On this website, information from a variety of sources is

provided on a variety of suicide methods, centred around
those that are most effective or popular. Depending on
the method selected, readers of this site are
recommended to do their own Further reading.

Sources

1. CE Rhyne, DI Templer, LG Brown and NB Peters,

"Dimensions of Suicide: Perceptions of Lethality, Time
and Agony", in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior,
Vol. 25(3), 1995.

2. JJ Card, "Lethality of suicidal methods and suicide risk:

Two distinct concepts", Omega 5, 1974.

3. NL Farberow and ES Shneidman, The Cry for Help,

1961.

4. Dr Phillip Nitschke with Dr Fiona Stewart, The Peaceful

Pill eHandbook, revised 10 October 2009.

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