September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day

Held on September 10 each year, World Suicide Prevention Day is intended to raise awareness of suicide and how it can be prevented.    As part of their campaign to promote World Suicide Prevention Day, the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP)  has established a special website with resources and suggested activities to promote the event and the 2011 theme: "Preventing Suicide in Multicultural Societies".   

Based on WHO estimates, approximately one million people a year die by suicide although reliable suicide statistics are often unavailable in many countries.  The magnitude of the problem is often masked by the stigma associated with suicide which can lead to the cause of death being concealed by friends or family members.  Although risk factors for suicide vary across cultural and demographic groups,  typical causes can include unemployment, stigmatisaton, poverty, oppression, and intimidation.   Attitudes towards suicide vary widely depending on family dynamics, religious and cultural beliefs, as well as stereotypes relating to the perceived link beween suicide and mental illness.   In countries with significant minority populations,  national suicide prevention policies often tend to reflect the cultural views of the dominant majority and neglect the special needs and community reaction that suicidal minority members often face. 

In discussing potentially "universal" suicide prevention efforts, the IASP recommends:

• Experiences of connectedness are important in the mental health and wellbeing of all people. Thus, communities that are well integrated and cohesive may be suicide preventive.
• Educating professionals of health and social services as well as communities in general about how to identify people at risk for suicide, encouraging those who need it to seek help, and providing them with needed and adequate help can reduce rates of suicide. These efforts require both cultural sensitivity and cultural competence.
• Methods of suicide vary across cultural contexts, but restricting access to whatever means are commonly employed has been found to be effective in reducing the number of suicides (e.g. safe storage of firearms, pesticides and medicines; restricting access to bridges and high rise buildings commonly used as jumping sites).
• Educating the media on how to report on suicide responsibly, and
• Providing adequate support for people who are bereaved by suicide.

Suggested activites to promote World Suicide Prevention Day  include:

• Launching new initiatives, policies and strategies on World Suicide Prevention Day
• Holding conferences, open days, educational seminars or public lectures and panels
• Writing articles for national, regional and community newspapers and magazines
• Placing information on your website and using the IASP World Suicide Prevention Day banner,
  promoting suicide prevention in one’s native tongue (www.iasp.info/wspd/2011_wspd_banner.php)
• Organizing memorial services, events, candlelight ceremonies or walks to remember those who
  have died by suicide
• Organizing concerts, BBQs, breakfasts, luncheons, contests, fairs in public places
• Producing press releases for new research papers
• Following the IASP on Twitter (www.twitter.com/IASPinfo), tweeting #WSPD or #suicide or
  #suicideprevention
• Creating a video about suicide prevention (www.youtube.com/IASPinfo)
• Lighting a candle, near a window, at 8 PM in support of: World Suicide Prevention Day, suicide
  prevention awareness, survivors of suicide and for the memory of loved lost ones.

Please consult the IASP website for other suggested activities.   

Suicide prevention in multicultural societies need to be targeted as a multicultural effort.  Preventing suicide requires the active cooperation of health care professionals, teachers, police, journalists, researchers, religious and cultural leaders, as well as concerned relatives and friends.  It's everyone's business and everyone needs to contribute.

IASP brochure (pdf)

IASP Toolkit (pdf).

Comments

[Erik Davis]

To the extent that suicide is caused by treatable mental illness / trauma, this is fine. But what about individuals that have made a conscious and rational decision to commit suicide?

Terminal medical conditions are the most common example...yet even so few jurisdictions have enacted Right to Die legislation. But beyond that, shouldn't people have the right to decide that their *chronic* life condition -- medical, financial, emotional, or otherwise -- are too great a weight to bear and that the alternative is better?

If life has few joys and many hardships, and one hasn't any means to do anything about it, why should a bunch of well-meaning busybodies try to stop them?

[Also: this is not a cry for help, just a morals debate. Honest.]

[Romeo Vitelli]

I'm glad that this isn't a cry for help but this debate represents a very slippery slope. Is the problem leading to thoughts of suicide a short-term or a long-term problem? Is there no possibility of life getting better in the future if the suicide doesn't happen? In any event, this is not a decision to be made in isolation so, whatever the grounds for suicide, it's essential to reach out to others for help and advice.

[ErikD]

The main point I was raising is that the IASP is unlikely to give a balanced view of the issue to those seeking help -- they're predisposed to think all suicide is a problem. It would be like consulting a priest for pre-abortion counselling. We need more enlightened support groups, and more enlightened legislative frameworks for them to operate within.

Otherwise, you end up with more of this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-14802369# . (OK, maybe not, but (providentially!) saw that today and laughed.

[Romeo Vitelli]

As I said, it's a slippery slope. Would "right to die" organizations necessarily be predisposed to intervene if the suicidal impulse isn't justified? And who should make that decision?