Suicide – A Bigger Problem Than You’d Think

It might be hard to believe, but according to the World Health Organisation, there are over 20 million, yes 20 MILLION, suicide attempts globally per annum. In the US alone 3% of the population every year have serious thoughts of suicide. Worldwide, suicide rates have increased by 60% over the last 50 years.

Perhaps more worrying than the number of people who actually succeed, is the number who try and don’t. The odds of a successful suicide vary from 20:1 against to 40:1 against (depending on the study and age of the person trying). You’d think that suicide was not that difficult – so what are these statistics telling us?

There a few almost sure-fire ways to kill yourself. But people who try (and don’t succeed) killing themselves don’t use those means? Why is that? The holy grail seems to be a painless way of death. But totally painless deaths are not easy to execute. The most obvious way is obtaining lethal drugs, which are hard to come by. So people tend to choose methods which have a high chance of failure.

This suggests that many people who attempt suicide do have some will to live left. It is an equation – “I’m prepared to try and die as long as there is no pain involved. If there is pain involved I’ll take my chances living.” I wonder what people trying to kill themselves by drug ingestion would do if you told them just before they swallowed their drugs it would not work and they would end up in hospital having a painful stomach pump, or maybe brain damaged. And then placed a gun by them and said if they really wanted to kill themselves that would be the way to go. How many would have enough desire to pull the trigger?

Many people who try and kill themselves seem poorly informed. Poorly informed of the chances of success. Poorly informed of the dangers if they don’t succeed. Poorly informed of the things they can try to make a difference to their wellbeing. Poorly informed about the impact their death might have on those around them, especially as people in that place don’t think clearly.

So if you are in that place, or know someone who is, help them get informed.

This article is contributed by the founder of Lost All Hope, a site dedicated to providing information to people that are feeling suicidal. To learn more, visit the "Lost All Hope" website.

By: Lost-All-Hope

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Learn more at: www.lostallhope.com

For sources on this article, see www.lostallhope.com/suicide-statistics.

When I searched on the web in 2002 to try and find ways to kill myself, I was overwhelmed by the amount of information I found; frustrated by how hard it was to find the information I really wanted; fed up of websites that tried to save me.

LostAllHope.com has no angle, and is non-profit.