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Don't. Call the suicide hotline if you need help.

Purpose of study

The study of suicide methods aims to identify those commonly used, and the groups at risk of suicide; making methods less accessible may be useful in suicide prevention. Limiting the availability of means such as pesticides and firearms is recommended by a World Health Report on suicide and its prevention. The early identification of mental disorders and substance abuse disorders, follow-up care for those who have attempted suicide, and responsible reporting by the media are all seen to be key in reducing the number of deaths by suicide. National suicide prevention strategies are also advocated using a comprehensive and coordinated response to suicide prevention. This needs to include the registration and monitoring of suicides and attempted suicide, breaking figures down by age, sex, and method.

Such information allows public health resources to focus on the problems that are relevant in a particular place, or for a given population or subpopulation. For instance, if firearms are used in a significant number of suicides in one place, then public health policies there could focus on gun safety, such as keeping guns locked away, and the key inaccessible to at-risk family members. If young people are found to be at increased risk of suicide by overdosing on particular medications, then an alternative class of medication may be prescribed instead, a safety plan and monitoring of medication can be put in place, and parents can be educated about how to prevent the hoarding of medication for a future suicide attempt.

Media reporting

Media reporting of the methods used in suicides is "strongly discouraged" by the World Health Organization, government health agencies, universities, and the Associated Press among others. Detailed descriptions of suicides or the personal characteristics of the person who died contribute to copycat suicides (suicide contagion). Dramatic or inappropriate descriptions of individual suicides by mass media has been linked specifically to copycat suicides among teenagers. Writing for the New Yorker about celebrity suicides, Andrew Solomon wrote that "You who are reading this are at statistically increased risk of suicide right now." In one study, changes in how news outlets reported suicide reduced suicides by a particular method.

Media reporting guidelines also apply to "online content including citizen-generated media coverage". The Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide, created by journalists, suicide prevention groups, and internet safety non-profit organizations, encourage linking to resources such as a list of suicide crisis lines and information about risk factors for suicide, and reporting on suicide as a multi-faceted, treatable health issue.

Method restriction

Method restriction, also called lethal means reduction, is an effective way to reduce the number of suicide deaths in the short and medium term. Method restriction is considered a best practice supported by "compelling" evidence. Some of these actions, such as installing barriers on bridges and reducing the toxicity in gas, require action by governments, industries, or public utilities. At the individual level, method restriction can be as simple as asking a trusted friend or family member to store firearms until the crisis has passed. According to Danuta Wasserman, professor in psychiatry and suicidology at Karolinska Institute, choosing not to restrict access to suicide methods is unethical.

Method restriction is effective and prevents suicides. It has the largest effect on overall suicide rates when the method being restricted is common and no direct substitution is available. If the method being restricted is uncommon, or if a substitute is readily available, then it may be effective in individual cases but not produce a large-scale reduction in the number of deaths in a country.

Method substitution is the process of choosing a different suicide method when the first-choice method is inaccessible. In many cases, when the first-choice method is restricted, the person does not attempt to find a substitute. Method substitution has been measured over the course of decades, so when a common method is restricted (for example, by making domestic gas less toxic), overall suicide rates may be suppressed for many years. If the first-choice suicide method is inaccessible, a method substitution may be made which may be less lethal, tending to result in fewer fatal suicide attempts.

In an example of the curb cut effect, changes unrelated to suicide have also functioned as suicide method restrictions. Examples of this include changes to align train doors with platforms, switching from coal gas to natural gas in homes, and gun control laws, all of which have reduced suicides despite being intended for a different purpose.

List

Get some help.

See also

• Advocacy of suicide
• List of suicides from antiquity to the present
• List of suicides in the 21st century
• Sarco device
• Suicide bag
• Suicide legislation

References

1. Yip, Paul S. F.; Caine, Eric; Yousuf, Saman; Chang, Shu-Sen; Wu, Kevin Chien-Chang; Chen, Ying-Yeh (2012-06-23). "Means restriction for suicide prevention". Lancet. 379 (9834): 2393–99. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60521-2. ISSN 1474-547X. PMC 6191653. PMID 22726520.
2. ^ Turecki, Gustavo; Brent, David A. (2016-03-19). "Suicide and suicidal behaviour". Lancet. 387 (10024): 1227–39. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00234-2. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 5319859. PMID 26385066.
3. ^ Berk, Michele (2019-03-12). Evidence-Based Treatment Approaches for Suicidal Adolescents: Translating Science Into Practice. American Psychiatric Pub. p. 309. ISBN 978-1-61537-163-1.
4. ^ "First WHO report on suicide prevention calls for coordinated action to reduce suicides worldwide". WHO. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
5. "Campaign materials – handouts". www.who.int. Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
6. Carmichael, Victoria; Whitley, Rob (May 9, 2019). "Media coverage of Robin Williams' suicide in the United States: A contributor to contagion?". PLOS ONE. 14 (5): e0216543. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1416543C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0216543. PMC 6508639. PMID 31071144.
7. "Reporting on Suicide: Recommendations for the Media". American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Archived from the original on October 31, 2004. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
8. ^ Wasserman, Danuta (2016-01-14). Suicide: An unnecessary death. Oxford University Press. pp. 359–361. ISBN 978-0-19-102683-6.
9. Solomon, Andrew (June 9, 2018). "Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, and the Preventable Tragedies of Suicide". New Yorker. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
10. "Online Media". Reporting on Suicide. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
11. Yip, PS; Caine, E; Yousuf, S; Chang, SS; Wu, KC; Chen, YY (23 June 2012). "Means restriction for suicide prevention". Lancet. 379 (9834): 2393–9. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60521-2. PMC 6191653. PMID 22726520.
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Further reading

• Humphry, Derek (1997). Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying. Dell. p. 240.
• Nitschke, Philip (2007). The Peaceful Pill Handbook. US: Exit International. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-9788788-2-5.
• Docker, C. (2015). Five Last Acts - The Exit Path. Scotland: Createspace.
• Stone, G. (2001). Suicide and Attempted Suicide: Methods and Consequences. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 978-0-7867-0940-3.

• Suicide methods
• Killings by type