top of page

Child Psychiatrist /Adult Psychiatrist

Writer's picturechrisviesumalinog

Suicide Prevention Must Expand Beyond Crisis Intervention

Updated: Sep 15, 2023

Interpreting the latest suicide data.


a blue background with arrows around a head and a group of people

KEY POINTS

  • The number of suicides in the U.S. climbed 2.6 percent in 2022, to just under 50,000.

a graph of suicide rates

  • The suicide rate has been climbing steadily since 2000.

a graph of suicide rates

Study Shows Impact of Adults on Reducing Student Suicide

 

Men are four times more likely than women to die by suicide.

a blue background with white text and people

Men die by suicide 3.5x more often than women.

Suicide Prevention

 

Men in non-urban areas are particularly at risk of suicide due to social and economic factors.

a graph of different colored lines

Suicide and suicide attempts in the Pacific Islands: A Systematic Literature Review

 

a man sitting in front of a brick wall

We’re past the point of using metaphors like alarms and wake-up calls. They have been going off for years, and the provisional figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on suicide in 2022 once again convey a grim increase in deaths that has been the general trend since 2000. Though the overall number of suicides declined in 2019 and 2020, the figure has once again risen in 2021 and 2022—by 5 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.



There is no positive spin that one can put on the fact that just under 50,000 Americans chose to end their lives last year. And while there may not be a silver lining in this story, we at least have the epidemiological tools to better understand where more suicides are happening and who is more likely to die by suicide, which may eventually help us understand why the number of suicides is climbing. Though it is a category error to treat suicide as no different than a disease, there are most certainly social factors that are contributing to the rise in suicides, and they are affecting some communities more than others.



a graph showing a suicide rate

Three preliminary things are worth noting. First, while the number of suicides has trended upward since 2000 and may seem unprecedented, the annual suicide rate is similar to what it was for much of the 1960s and 1970s (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. OECD (2023), Suicide rates (indicator).

The second is that the rise in suicides since 2000 has been accompanied by an increase in the number of overdose deaths, which has accelerated more recently due to the rising presence of fentanyl in the illicit drug trade and the COVID-19 pandemic (see Figure 2). Moreover, many of the antecedent social factors propelling the rise in drug use and overdose deaths are almost certainly driving the surge in suicides.



a graph of a number of people with suicide

Third, 90 percent of completed suicides occur in patients with a mental illness. However, the percentage of people who have a mental illness and take their own lives is only 5 percent. Moreover, an estimated 50 percent of suicide victims are people with no known psychiatric illness, even at their time of death.



Figure 2. Overdose deaths and suicide deaths in the U.S.



All that said, here’s what the epidemiological data says.


Where?


Within the U.S., density appears to be inversely associated with suicide rates, with large metropolitan areas like New York seeing suicide rates half that of rural areas. As of 2021, the states with the highest suicide rates per 100,000 were Wyoming (32.3), Montana (32.0), and Alaska (30.8). The states with the lowest suicide rates were New Jersey (7.1 percent), New York (7.9 percent), and Massachusetts (8 percent). Alaska has the lowest population density, followed by Wyoming and then Montana. Conversely, New Jersey is the most densely populated state, New York ranks seventh, and Massachusetts ranks third.


Who?

As Figure 3 shows, men have been about four times more likely to die by suicide than women for the last 20 years.

a graph showing the number of people in the u. s.

There are also clear racial and ethnic disparities in suicide rates; non-Hispanic Whites and Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Natives have significantly higher rates than average, while Hispanic, Non-Hispanic Black, and Non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander individuals all have lower than average rates.








Figure 3. Suicide rates for men and women. Source: Garnett MF, Curtin SC, Stone DM. Suicide mortality in the United States, 2000–2020. NCHS Data Brief, no 433. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2022.



What is truly astonishing is what happens when you split ethnic groups along the rural or non-rural divide for men (see Figure 4). The graph on the right appears to be a continuation of the graph on the left, but it’s actually a visualization of this divide.


When?

While the non-rural or rural divide and patterns among ethnicities are fairly straightforward, age is not.

a graph of different colored lines

Moreover, the age groups with the highest suicide rates skew a bit older than one might expect. Among women, it’s the 45 to 64 age group. For men, it’s those who are over 75. Additionally, every age group for females is lower than for males, except for those aged 10-14.

Figure 4. Suicide rates by race/ethnicity.


How?


Guns have become the most common method of suicide among both men and women within the U.S. In 2021, 54 percent (26,328) of all firearm deaths were suicides compared to 43 percent of deaths which were murders (20,958). The remaining 3 percent included accidents (549), shootings by police officers (537), or deaths with undetermined circumstances (458).



Raw Numbers


While rates fluctuate from year to year for varying groups, I want to stress that the largest number of suicides each year continues to be middle-aged White males who die by firearm in non-rural areas. Similarly, suicide rates within rural areas may be elevated, but the raw number of deaths is still far higher in non-rural areas because more people live there.



Takeaways


There is no doubt that there is a mental health crisis in America, and non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native and non-Hispanic White men in non-urban areas are perhaps struggling as much, if not more, than anyone else, as the data shows. For decades, unique cultural hurdles have prevented men in these communities from asking for help, such as stigmas against seeking assistance or limited access to mental health care. However, we have not seen the high suicide rates described above. Something else has to be fueling the problem.


It seems clear that the widely reported macroeconomic trends that have resulted in disproportionate levels of poverty, drug use, and despair are the issues driving the epidemic of non-urban suicide more than social stigmas. While this should not stop us from providing resources for short-term crisis intervention, long-term suicide prevention will require meaningful economic changes and a resurgence of hope.



If you or someone you love is contemplating suicide, seek help immediately.




Recent Posts

See All

コメント


bottom of page