This document discusses suicide, including definitions, myths and facts, statistics, methods, and inpatient suicide. It defines suicide and related terms. It addresses common myths, such as that talking about suicide encourages it or that suicidal individuals are determined to die. Facts presented include that the majority of suicides are preceded by warning signs, mental disorders are not required for suicidal thoughts, and suicide risk is often temporary. Statistics provided on rates by age, gender, following divorce or hospital discharge. Common methods are also outlined.

1. Suicide
Dr. Ali Alsalman

2. Earthquake
Dr. Ali Alsalman

5. Being prepared

6. Earthquake
Dr. Ali Alsalman

7. Suicide
Dr. Ali Alsalman

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10. Definition
• From Modern Latin suicidium from Latin sui "of oneself"+ -
cidium "a killing”.
• Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death
• The act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily
and intentionally
• Suicide—self-inflicted death with evidence (either explicit
or implicit) that the person intended to die.

11. Other Definitions
• Suicide attempt—self-injurious behavior with a nonfatal outcome accompanied by
evidence (either explicit or implicit) that the person intended to die.
• Aborted suicide attempt—potentially self-injurious behavior with evidence (either
explicit or implicit) that the person intended to die but stopped the attempt before
physical damage occurred.
• Suicidal ideation—thoughts of serving as the agent of one’s own death.
• Suicidal intent—subjective expectation and desire for a self-destructive act to end
in death.
• Lethality of suicidal behavior—objective danger to life associated with a suicide
method or action. Note that lethality is distinct from and may not always coincide
with an individual’s expectation of what is medically dangerous.
• Deliberate self-harm—willful self-inflicting of painful, destructive, or injurious acts
without intent to die.

13. Myths
vs Facts

14. Once someone is
suicidal, he or she will
always remain suicidal

15. Heightened suicide risk is often
short-term and situation-specific.
While suicidal thoughts may
return, they are not permanent and
an individual with previously
suicidal thoughts and attempts can
go on to live a long life.

16. Talking about suicide
is a bad idea and can
be interpreted as
encouragement.

17. Rather than encouraging
suicidal behaviour, talking
openly can give an individual
other options or the time to
rethink his/her decision,
thereby preventing suicide.

18. Only people with
mental disorders are
suicidal

19. Suicidal behaviour indicates deep
unhappiness but not necessarily
mental disorder. Many people living
with mental disorders are not
affected by suicidal behaviour, and
not all people who take their own
lives have a mental disorder

20. Most suicides happen
suddenly without
warning

21. The majority of suicides have been
preceded by warning signs,
whether verbal or behavioural. Of
course there are some suicides that
occur without warning. But it is
important to understand what the
warning signs are and look out for
them

22. Someone who is
suicidal is determined
to die.

23. Fact: On the contrary, suicidal people
are often ambivalent about living or
dying. Someone may act impulsively
by drinking pesticides, for instance,
and die a few days later, even though
they would have liked to live on.
Access to emotional support at the
right time can prevent suicide.

24. People who talk about
suicide do not mean to
do it.

25. People who talk about suicide may
be reaching out for help or
support. A significant number of
people contemplating suicide are
experiencing anxiety, depression
and hopelessness and may feel
that there is no other option.

26. Numbers
well … statistics for the fancy ones

30. Facts
• For every suicide there are many more people who attempt, A prior
suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the
general population. Around 25 million
(25:1) (Young 200:1) (Elderly 4:1)
• Men 3:1 Suicides, women 3:1 attempts
• 49 to 65 people die by suicide annually while in the hospital. (USA)
• 2008 8.4m thought of suicide (USA)
• more than half (52.1%) of global suicides occurred before the age of 45
years
• The global age-standardized suicide rate was 11.4 per 100 000 person-
years

31. Thought, plan, attempts and Suicide (2008)

32. Causes of Death

36. Suicide death rates

37. Share of deaths by suicide

38. 1990 vs 2017

39. Suicide deaths by gender

40. Male to female ratio

41. Suicide and Divorce

42. Suicide rates by age

43. Suicide vs Homicide

45. Suicide Methods

46. Methods of suicide

54. Inpatient/mental illness

55. national estimate of inpatient
suicides in the U.S.
• Around 50/yr (49 to 65)
• Most are psychiatric patients
• 70% hanging

56. Inpatient Suicides (US)
Bathroom
50%
Bedroom
34%
Closet
4%
Shower
4%
Other
8%

57. Inpatient Suicides (US)
fixture point was
a door, door
hinge or door
handle
53.8%
of all hanging
events).
Thus recommendation
of ligature-resistant /
ligature-free
environment

58. Facts
• The global age-standardized suicide rate was 11.4 per 100 000
person-years
• The postdischarge suicide rate (484/10000 post discharge) was
approximately 100 times the global suicide rate during the first 3
months after discharge (1132/100000) and patients admitted
with suicidal thoughts or behaviors had rates near 200 times the
global rate (2078/100000)
• Previous suicide attempt increase to rate 27.5%

59. died by suicide among psychiatric inpatients (left) and the general population (right) – Fig

61. Intersting …
• Suicidal patients are usually focused on 1 mode/method
prevent it and desire to suicide drops dramatically1978
study, researchers followed 515 people who attempted to
jump off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco but
survived. The study found that only 5% of them eventually
died by suicide.