Elderly suicide is influenced by multiple contributing factors including loneliness, depression, financial stressors, loss of home or partner, physical and mental deterioration, and ineffective coping mechanisms. Over 15% of elderly suicide victims misuse alcohol, and social isolation is also a risk factor. Elderly suicide attempts are often more lethal than younger adults, with firearms being the leading method. Healthcare providers can help reduce elderly suicide risk through identification and support of at-risk individuals, teaching coping skills, promoting safe environments, offering social activities, and expanding access to healthcare and temporary financial assistance.

1. • Elderly people that commit suicide have
experienced many contributing factors leading up
to their decisions to kill them selves (Conejero, Olie,
Courtet, & Calati, 2018)
• 1 out of 5 people who succeed as ending their lives
are over the age of 65 years old (Kumar, Anish, &
George, 2015)
Elderly Suicide

2. Sense of usefulness
◦ “Loneliness and depression are
more severe among empty-nest
than not-empty-nest rural elderly
adults” (Wang, Hu, Xiao, & Zhou, 2017, p. 1).
◦ “Loneliness was a mediating
variable between empty-nest
syndrome and depression” (Wang,
Hu, Xiao, & Zhou, 2017, p. 1).

3. FINANCIAL STRESSORS
◦ Retirement income does not meet increasing economical world growth patterns
(LawFirms, 2019)
◦ Normal physiological age-related complications increase medical needs raising
health care costs (Conejero, Olie, Courtet, & Calati, 2018)

4. Loss of Home
• Income levels in retirement
can not meet the demands
of continual rising real
estate taxes (LawFirms, 2019)
• Income levels in retirement
can not meet the demands
of continuing home
maintenance and repairs
(LawFirms, 2019)

5. INEFFECTIVE
COPING
MECHANISMS
• “About 15 percent of persons with alcohol
abuse or alcohol dependence have been
reported to commit suicide” (Sadock, Sadock,
& Ruiz, 2015, p. 589).
• Elders have a higher incident of alcohol use
increasing cycle of hopelessness (Conejero,
Olie, Courtet, & Calati, 2018).
• Elders suffer secondary medial complications
from heavy alcohol use (Conejero, Olie,
Courtet, & Calati, 2018)

6. PHYSICAL
DETERIORATION
◦Normal physiological
deterioration creates physical
pain and psychological loneliness
(Kumar, Anish, & George, 2015; Wang, Hu, Xiao, & Zhou,
2017)
◦Care givers experience physical
and psychological caring for
partners(Kumar, Anish, & George, 2015)

7. LOSS OF
LIFE
PARTNER
(CONEJERO,OLIE,COURTET,&
CALATI,2018)

8. Legal
problems
◦Increasing alcohol related
crimes (Lewis, Fields, & Rainey, 2006)
◦Dementia and psychiatric
disorders are common
antecedents(Lewis, Fields, & Rainey, 2006)

9. Isolation and Loneliness
• “Social isolation, marital
status, bereavement or
clinical risk factors may be
related with suicidal
behavior in older adults”
(Conejero, Olie, Courtet, & Calati, 2018)

10. Lethality
◦ “Suicide attempts are often more lethal in older adults than
in younger adults” (Administration on Aging [AoA], 2012,
p. 1)
◦ “Firearms are the most common means of suicide in older
adults (67%), followed by poisoning (14%) and suffocation”
(12%) (AoA, 2012, p. 1)
◦ “Older adults are nearly twice as likely to use firearms as a
means of suicide than are people under age 60” (AoA,
2012, p. 1)

11. Healthcare Providers Interventions
• Identify and support people at risk of suicide.Identify and support
• Teach coping and problem-solving skills to help people manage challenges with their relationships, jobs,
health, or other concerns.Teach
• Promote safe and supportive environments. This includes safely storing medications and firearms to
reduce access among people at risk.Promote
• Offer activities that bring people together, so they feel connected and not alone.Offer
• Connect people at risk to effective and coordinated mental and physical healthcare.Connect
• Expand options for temporary help for those struggling to make ends meet.Expand
• Prevent future risk of suicide among those who have lost a friend or loved one to suicidePrevent
(Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2018)

12. References
◦ Administration on Aging. (2012). Older americans behavioral health issue brief 4: Preventing suicide in
older adults. Older Americans Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center, 1-4. Retrieved from
https://acl.gov/sites/default/files/programs/2016-11/Issue%20Brief%204%20Preventing%20Suicide.pdf
◦ Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Vital signs | Suicide [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/pdf/vs-0618-suicide-H.pdf
◦ Conejero, I., Olie, E., Courtet, P., & Calati, R. (2018). Suicide in older adults: current perspectives. Clinical
Interventions in Aging, 13, 691-699. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5916258/pdf/cia-13-691.pdf
◦ Kumar, P., Anish, P., & George, B. (2015). Risk factors for suicide in elderly in comparison to younger age
groups. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 57(3), 249-254. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.166614
◦ LawFirms. (2019). Foreclosures on the Elderly. Retrieved from
https://www.lawfirms.com/resources/foreclosure/foreclosures-elderly
◦ Lewis, C., Fields, C., & Rainey, E. (2006). A study of geriatric forensic evaluees: Who are the violent elderly?
The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 34(3), 324-332. Retrieved from
http://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/34/3/324.full.pdf
◦ Sadock, B., Sadock, V., & Ruiz, P. (2015). Synopsis of psychiatry | Behavioral sciences / clinical psychiatry (11th ed.).
Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
◦ Wang, G., Hu, M., Xiao, S., & Zhou, L. (2017). Loneliness and depression among rural empty-nest elderly
adults in Liuyang, China: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-
016091