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Comment and Health

We need to be more careful when talking about suicide and the pandemic

By Clare Wilson

13 November 2020

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Michaelle Durbano

AS THE world grapples with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been widespread predictions that the fallout would lead to a rise in suicide rates. Fortunately, figures available so far suggest that this hasn’t been happening. So it is important that we now rein in this alarmist narrative to avoid creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is understandable that when lockdowns were first brought in, there were fears over the impact on mental health of such an extreme measure. Humans are naturally sociable, and so forcing people to reduce contact with their friends and families was always going to be difficult.

Mix in fear of catching a potentially deadly virus, loss of income and less access to mental health services and it seemed like a recipe for disaster. Some commentators made predictions of a large rise in suicides, which was reported in some cases with sensationalist language. But so far, thankfully, this hasn’t been borne out. While the publishing of suicide figures normally takes many months, the initial indications for 2020 suggest that there hasn’t been a rise this year.

In the Australian state of Victoria, where a very strict 16-week lockdown ended last month, recent figures show there was no difference in suicide numbers in the eight months from January to August 2020 compared with the same months in the previous year. In British Columbia, equivalent numbers seem to be slightly down on last year.

Now a report has just been published online containing suicide data for several unnamed areas of England with a total population of 9 million people. Although there was a small increase from April to August 2020 compared with the previous year, the authors of the report believe that is because not all cases were recorded in 2019 as police and coroners were still getting used to the new real-time reporting system. Reassuringly, the average monthly figure for April to August 2020 was about the same as for January to March 2020. Official lockdown in England began on 23 March.

It is important to note that these are only the earliest figures available, and don’t preclude suicide rates from rising over the longer term. They also don’t negate the fact that several studies suggest there has been a rise in people who say they feel anxious or distressed, presumably because of the pandemic or its knock-on effects. But concluding that such feelings will lead more people to take their own lives is a massive assumption.

It is also potentially dangerous, because suicide deaths have an unusual feature. Unlike deaths from heart disease or cancer, say, media coverage can lead to an increase in deaths by suicide. It is well established that news of a celebrity’s suicide can lead to a subsequent rise in such deaths among the public, especially in those using the same method. A similar effect is seen if newspapers report on an unusual number of suicides at a particular location.

Mental health charities have long had guidelines on this subject for how the media should report suicide to try to minimise this risk. They say coverage shouldn’t include sensationalised language, nor should it suggest that anyone’s death had a simple single cause, as this can encourage others in a similar situation to follow suit.

Some researchers have become concerned that sensationalist predictions about a surge in suicide could risk normalising the idea that this is a rational way to respond to the pandemic. Now that the first figures are in, we can see that the claims that suicides would increase during the pandemic seem to be wrong. It’s time for such dangerous predictions to stop.

Need a listening ear? UK Samaritans: 116123 (samaritans.org). Visit bit.ly/SuicideHelplines for hotlines and websites for other countries

Article amended on 23 November 2020

We have corrected the number of areas in England where suicide data has now been published.

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