Every 40 seconds someone, somewhere in the world, takes their own life. That's more than 800,000 people each year.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics report the highest suicide rate in Australia in ten years; with 2535 lives being lost to suicide in 2012.
Today, on World Suicide Prevention Day, Australians are joining people around the world to combat this major public health challenge.
This World Suicide Prevention Day marks the release of Preventing suicide: A global imperative. Prepared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the report highlights that suicide is a serious worldwide health concern – each year more people die from suicide than from war and homicide combined.
‘It’s estimated that for every person who dies by suicide, at least 20 more people attempt to take their life and, for young people, the rate is much higher,’ says Jack Heath, the CEO of SANE Australia. ‘While a lot of good work is being done, there are several areas that need specific action if we are to achieve the National Suicide Prevention Coalition’s target of reducing suicide by 50% in the next ten years.’
Better detection of suicidal intentions
- Most health professionals rely on suicide risk assessment tools that ask people about whether they are having suicidal thoughts and if they have made a plan to act.
- These tools are extremely poor at predicting suicide with the majority of people who go on to take their life being assessed as at low risk.
- Better suicide risk procedures are needed to ensure the individual feels safe, comfortable and supported to discuss their thoughts about suicide.
Deeper understanding of why and how often people attempt suicide
- As the International Association for Suicide Prevention points out, attempted suicide is the biggest single predictor of death by suicide yet there is very little research with people who have attempted suicide.
- Australia needs a coordinated means of collecting better data about suicide attempts. We need better information from hospitals as well as regular national surveys that tell us how many Australians are attempting suicide each year.
- Tracking suicide attempts provides a more timely indicator of changing trends and the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs. It can lead to better policy responses.
Better training for mental health workers and GPs
- There is a serious lack of education about how to prevent a suicidal crisis, or how to talk to people about their suicidal feelings.
- Most health professionals, including GPs, psychologists, social workers and counsellors, do not receive specific training about suicide.
- On-the-job training usually focuses on risk assessment tools or crisis intervention.
- Of particular importance is training GPs to detect suicidal thoughts and behaviours - 80% of people who die by suicide have visited their GP in the weeks prior to their death.
National stigma reduction effort
- The WHO states that the stigma attached to mental illness and suicide means that many people feel unable to seek help and this leads to more suicides.
- We urgently need a national stigma reduction initiative to reduce ill-informed attitudes, in both the wider community and within health professions, to increase understanding about mental illness, and what leads people to take their own lives.
Increasing Connectedness
- As the International Association for Suicide Prevention tells us, having a sense of belonging and social connection protects against suicide.
- We need to develop new and better ways to build that sense of connectedness including through online initiatives such as the SANE Online Forums.
‘While it is an extremely complex issue, we must always remember that suicide is preventable,’ says Heath. ‘In particular, we need to understand better the experiences of people who have attempted suicide.
‘We know that many people’s main motivation for attempting to take their own life is to put an end to what they feel is an unbearable pain and sense of hopelessness.’
Recent research by SANE Australia and the University of New England, which focused on talking to people who have attempted suicide, found that their suicide attempts were often based, not on a selfish act, but rather the distorted belief that by ending their life, the person would improve the situation for those they cared about.
‘One world connected’ is this year’s theme for World Suicide Prevention Day. The theme reflects the fact that connections are important at several levels,’ Heath adds. Support and understanding from family and friends is absolutely critical.
‘A better understanding of suicide attempts combined with improved training for professionals and a national effort to reduce stigma can make a real impact on the suicide rates in Australia,’ he concludes.
SANE Australia is a founding member of the National Suicide Prevention Coalition under the leadership of Suicide Prevention Australia.
SANE Helpline 1800 18 SANE (7263)
