Suicide rates during the pandemic

[PuzzledObserver]

It has been asserted many times on here that suicide rates have increased/will increase because of lockdown.

That's a reasonable assumption, because the impact of lockdown hon mental health has been profound.

However, initial evidence shows the assumption to be unfounded.

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/949590?src=wnl_newsalrt_uk_210420_MSCPEDIT&uac=51603FG&impID=3322501&faf=1

I completely agree that we need to look at also suicide attempts, self harming behaviour, and of course monitor the impact for years to come.

However, I think the OP was touching on the fact that on many, many occasions, some posters have been stating categorically that suicide rates are up, I've even seen people say that the number of suicides is higher than the number of deaths from covid.

This shows that to be untrue.

Fairly certain that the most damage has been done to NHS workers on the front line.

Too many other people confuse boredom with mental health issues.

The report only covers April to October last year

It will be a long time before we’ll know the true figures for lockdown related suicides

@elliejjtiny

My 12 year old tried to commit suicide during the 3rd lockdown. It was a miracle that he survived really, he very nearly didn't. My 14 year old's friend lost his mum to suicide in lockdown 1.

@elliejjtiny I'm so sorry you son went through this. I hope he is getting the help he needs.

I haven't looked at any official stats, but I wouldn't have expected the rate to jump immediately. The effects of lockdown will be felt for years and in many ways the fall out hasn't started yet - eg when furlough ends many, many people will lose jobs, careers and businesses.

Not to dismiss how devastating suicide is, but the level of suicides is not the only measure of mental wellbeing. There are many who will continue to live with mental health issues caused by/exacerbated by lockdown.

If it’s only April until then October then we all remember lockdown 1. Weather was great, novelty factor etc. Then things opened up for summer and it seemed there may be no second wave.

It takes a while for people to get worn down, or lose jobs and homes. By Jan I think you’ll see a different data set. And the long term mental health implications, especially on the young will be huge. Diagnoses of anorexia have increased. Women are more likely to self harm than actually kill themselves so actual suicide rates don’t tell the whole picture and at worst you are brushing the impact of these lockdowns under the carpet. By staying ‘oh look suicide rates aren’t up so everything was fine’. Not true for many.

Anecdotal but I’m a nurse who has worked through lockdown in A and E and AMU. Seeing young people in crisis is now a multiple occurrence on the daily and other behaviours like alcoholism, self-neglect and drug use seem to increase. It’s all very tragic.

@Tealightsandd Its not just right to buy. Social housing is being demolished and replaced with a lot less social housing and instead being replaced with shared ownership and homes to buy.

the reality about these regeneration practices is that council housing is abolished and is only partially replaced with fewer ,more expensive and less secure housing association homes

In 2015 it was calculated that a household income of over £52"000 would be needed to pay the average £303 WEEKLY rent of an affordable two bed home in Aylesburys SE5 postcode area.

So you see its a lot more complicated than champagne socialists just focusing on right to buy.

And im also a bit sick of people using these issues as whataboutery when they couldnt give a damn the rest of the time.

I agree that there are some people whose mental health has improved. DH suffers from quite severe depression and relies on anti-depressants. Working from home made a huge difference to his mental health.

However, I also agree that difficulties accessing Mental Health services and lack of funding are likely to cause an increased likelihood of severe mental health issues, including suicide.

@MercyBooth are you possibly on the wrong thread here?

Isn't it too soon to be able to discuss this? My understanding was the slow down of inquests means it's going to take a while to get accurate data?

@PuzzledObserver Nice try but go back and reread your own thread @Tealightsandd brought up housing not me.

What on earth did you think id tagged her in for

@MercyBooth my apologies, I learnt skimmed replies and hadn’t seen @Tealightsandd reference to housing. Saw yours and thought it seemed a bit random. Sorry.

No worries.

@kickergoes

Isn't it too soon to be able to discuss this? My understanding was the slow down of inquests means it's going to take a while to get accurate data?

You (and others) are probably right that it is too soon to assess the impact. But that hasn’t stopped some people asserting that suicides have definitely risen, as though it were established fact. This was the first actual statistical evidence I had seen.

The fact that some posters on here personally know people who have committed suicide, or attempted it, or attempted it themselves, is clearly horrible. But you can’t deduce from that that suicide rates (or attempts) have risen.

@bookworm1632

Fairly certain that the most damage has been done to NHS workers on the front line.

Too many other people confuse boredom with mental health issues.

It is not a competition.

People attempt suicide because they are severely ill. They don't attempt suicide because they are a bit depressed. Every suicide attempt that happens throughout lockdown will be put down to lockdown, suicides do happen though sadly, regardless of lockdown. Just because you know someone who attempted suicide does not mean rates are increasing

The majority of these people will have been ill for a long time, or on the edge. Lockdown may have been the thing that pushed them over the edge but it is very unlikely to be the sole cause and it could easily have been something else.

There will be people who have coped worse with their mental health throughout lockdown. There will also be people who have coped better. It has probably balanced itself out. But I think often suicide rates are used as a trump card, often by those who don't actually give a shit about mental health

@HuaShan

The Manchester study also only looks at completed suicides. They are not measuring attempts (or for that matter any other increase in mental health problems). I work in frontline mental health - there is a clear crisis.

Thank you this is very helpful

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind

I never thought that the suicide rate was going to jump massively straight away.

The effects will be felt a couple of years down the line, when the damage caused by lockdowns/job losses will take their toll and only then will the increase be seen. I really hope it doesn't happen but I can't see how it won't. Very few people were going to kill themselves immediately when we went into lockdown- it will be the cumulative effects over time that will cause it.

Things like furlough and evictions ban have also helped kick the can down the road.

Remember also that Published figures can be manipulated by people.

One of funniest things I've seen is people saying the ONS is independent, they are government funded so open being manipulated

Ons is government funded you're right but they publish official statistics which are protected from political influence and emphasise transparency.

In the context of social factors, the narrative is that lockdown 'causes' suicide.

Not that inadequate access to psychological support for those at risk may increase suicide because that was a factor prepandemic.

I suspect that many PhD theses will resurrect the studies conducted on social factors of suicide by Emile Durkheim in the 1890s with particular reference to the finding that collective existential threat reduces the rate of the 'individualist' act of suicide by increasing the sense of social cohesion. Counterintuitively suicide decreases in war in comparison to peacetime. The notion of an external enemy allows transcendence of national concerns (right and left politics are suspended) and inequalities are ignored because we are all in it together.

Even if data showed that suicide rates had increased we still would not know the extent this was due to psychological or social factors.

@DIshedUp

People attempt suicide because they are severely ill. They don't attempt suicide because they are a bit depressed. Every suicide attempt that happens throughout lockdown will be put down to lockdown, suicides do happen though sadly, regardless of lockdown. Just because you know someone who attempted suicide does not mean rates are increasing

The majority of these people will have been ill for a long time, or on the edge. Lockdown may have been the thing that pushed them over the edge but it is very unlikely to be the sole cause and it could easily have been something else.

There will be people who have coped worse with their mental health throughout lockdown. There will also be people who have coped better. It has probably balanced itself out. But I think often suicide rates are used as a trump card, often by those who don't actually give a shit about mental health

People attempt suicide because they are severely ill. They don't attempt suicide because they are a bit depressed

That is not true. Social factors can cause someone to commit suicide too. I know of someone who attempted because she was in an abusive relationship. She was not ill, and to say she was is to imply there was something wrong her and not the situation she was in. People also attempt due to job loss, bereavement, trauma. Mental illness does not always factor into suicide.

Ons is government funded you're right but they publish official statistics which are protected from political influence and emphasise transparency.

In the current times I doubt that they are protected from interference,

Suicide is a very complex issue and as others have posted, it may take years for the full impacts of lockdowns to trickle through. Job losses, long-term uncertainty, not seeing family, continued anxiety and media stoking fears, etc. - all these will have impacts. In an ideal world the government would increase funding to MH services to forestall this, but the reality will be very, very different.

Another issue though is that using suicide as a proxy for mental health is crass and incredibly limited. Suicide is the worst outcome - but there are plenty of other forms of mental health suffering that will not show up in official data. Anxiety, depression, phobias, OCD, etc. are all difficult to track. And don't tell me that addictions - to alcohol, drugs, medications, overeating, internet-based (from pornography to gambling to gaming) have not been impacted - there is no data on these, or very little apart from referrals (and these are the tip of the iceberg), so ignoring this is a bit like the passengers on the Titanic saying 'Who cares about the ice cube over there, look at that starry sky!'

On the other hand, it would be good to see an assessment of the positive MH impacts of lockdown - I know personally that I have benefited from less crowds and rushing around, more exercise, and more time to do things like cook food and spend time with the kids (with obvious caveats).