Natural Issues Related to Suicide

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Natural Issues Related to Suicide

Suicide is not more common at the full moon.

Folklore has an enduring aspect that defies evidence. A great number of human behaviors have been said to cycle or be influenced by astrological events like the phases of the moon. Despite numerous studies, no relationship has been shown between such events and suicidal behaviors.

Martin and others, Suicide and lunar cycles, Psychological Reports, 1992

Suicide occurs all year but is slightly more common in spring.

There are two peaks in suicide during the calendar year. They occur with the change of the seasons from hot to cold and from cold to hot six months later.

The change from cold to hot in spring is more prominent. Both of these peaks are noticeable in graphs and often mentioned in folklore but the spring peak is actually statistically significant. It is notable that this relationship is present in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

There is also a peak in the incidence of episodes of biological mood/affective disorder at the same time.

Chew and McCleary, The spring peak in suicide, Social Science and Medicine, 1995

Suicide has been associated with some climate factors.

High temperatures (well above normal body temperature of 37.2C) accompanied by very high humidity and changes in atmospheric pressure have been related to increases in suicidal behavior in some studies.

This is fabled in "going troppo" in Northern Territory Australia. Dry, warm winds blow down the leeward side of mountains in, for example, Alberta (chinook), Norway (fohn) and southern France (Mistral). They are accompanied by large rapid barometric pressure changes and a weak but recognizable statistical relationship to suicidal behaviors.

Preti, Seasonal variation and meteotropism in suicide, Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 2000

There are locations in every city where suicidal behavior is more common.

The urban geography of cities reflects the influences of many social and economic factors. Suicide occurs in central cores where there are many business buildings but fewer residential communities offering local support.

It occurs around universities and colleges where young people are concentrated in institutions often far away from the support of family and friends.

In the mid latitudes, suicide is often higher on the east end of town where there is more industrial and less residential development. Micro factors are also noted as suicide is more common on streets which access or support mass transit.

Kennedy and others, Violence, homicide and suicide: Strong correlation and wide variation across districts, British Journal of Psychiatry, 1999

90% of suicides occur in the home.

This is a surprising fact to many but there are some practical considerations in the choice. Methods are familiar and available, and plans can be developed and implemented in secret.

Sometimes the final message of the person who dies by suicide is meant to be directly delivered to those who share the residence. Because schedules of other occupants are known, there is less chance of interruption. Another possibility is that there is a small part of the person at risk that wants to live and is unconsciously hoping for a rescue.

Avis, Suicide in metropolitan St. John?s 1988-1994, Canadian Society of Forensic Sciences Journal, 1996

Death by suicide is less common before public holidays.

All of us are carried along in the emotional tide of celebration around a festive or special event marked by a holiday. The sense of community is strong and binds us all.

Even more, such public celebrations are often annual events that bring back personal memories and experiences of earlier and better days, or hold out a promise for such in the future. These features of support, of hope and of a sense of enduring such times are strong antidotes against suicide.

...but more common after public holidays.

When the day has passed and little has changed and when others carry on with daily life and living, the stark isolation for the person who feels left out seems to throw them back into the "black pit" of suicide.

There are numerous studies that support the decrease and then increase in suicide around holidays with the conclusion that no overall effect of holidays can be found.

Jessen and others, Attempted suicide and major public holidays in Europe, Acta Psychiatr Scand, 1999

Suicides occur in all parts of a country, but rates are lower in cities and towns.

There is no region in which there are not suicides. The number of deaths by suicide differs across countries and in various regions within countries. There are patterns to these differences. One example is found when the rates of suicide for every county in the United States were mapped as part of a mortality atlas. Areas of dense population (metropolitan, urban and suburban) had lower suicide than rural and much lower suicide than isolated and remote rural communities.

This surprised many people. Explanations include the relative lack of formal or professional resources, distance and isolation from other informal supports, availability of firearms as necessary tools for sustaining life, and the very nature of people who choose to live their lives in such separation from other human beings, such as proud individualism preventing asking for help, or fatalism about life and death as natural events.

Yip and others, Urban/rural and gender differentials in suicide rates, Journal of Affective Disorders, 2000

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