Suicide

What:
Suicide: the act or an instance of ending one’s own life intentionally and voluntarily
Suicidal Ideation (suicidal thoughts): thoughts, consideration, and/or preoccupation centered around one’s own death or ending one’s own life.  

Prevenance:
Globally, 727,000 people die by suicide annually, with 10-40 attempts per completed suicide. It is the 4th leading cause of death in 15-29 year olds. Approximately 1.3%, or 1 in every 100 deaths are the result of suicide. 

In the US alone, suicide results in nearly 50,000 per year with an estimated 1,500,000 attempts—that is 1 death every 11 minutes and 3 attempts every minute. Further, 12,800,000 American adults seriously thought about suicide, with 3,700,000 made a plan for suicide. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the US overall, and the 4th leading cause in 25-44 year olds. 

Treatments:
There are several evidence based brief interventions that help people through acute crises (e.g., Safety Planning Intervention [SPI]; Lethal Means Counseling [LMC]; & Crisis Response Planning [CRP]) as well as longer term talk therapies that focus on addressing the broader risk factors for suicide (e.g., Collaborative Management and Assessment of Suicidality [CAMS]; Cognitive Behavior for Suicide Prevention [CBT-SP/CT-SP]; & Dialectical Behavior Therapy [DBT]).

Learn More from Our Member Organizations:

ABCT’s suicide fact sheet: https://www.abct.org/fact-sheets/suicide/

APA’s suicide resources page: https://www.apa.org/topics/suicide 

APS’ articles/pages on suicide: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/tag/suicide 

TL;DR: Suicide is a serious, common, and treatable problem. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or behaviors, the suicide prevention lifeline can provide free and confidential support for people in crisis or their loved ones, 24/7 by texting or calling 988.