George E. Murphy, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (Mo.), says that females may be protected because of the way they think about problems and interact with others. "Women process their experiences with friends. They discuss their feelings, seek feedback, and take advice. They are much more likely to tell a physician how they feel and cooperate in the prescribed treatment. As a result, women get better treatment for their depression."

That treatment may help protect them from suicide, but Murphy suggests there is more to it. The approach to problem-solving is what often lands a woman in a psychiatrist's office in the first place, and that approach may be keeping female suicide rates lower.

Actually, women lead men two-to-one in suicide attempts. Murphy indicates that at least 200,000 women are involved in suicide attempts annually. However, he points out that attempted suicide most often is not an attempt to actually end one's life. Its purpose, he maintains, is to survive with changed circumstances. "An attempted suicide is not really an attempt at suicide in about 95% of cases. It is a different phenomenon. It's most often an effort to bring someone's attention, dramatically, to a problem that the individual feels needs to be solved. Suicide contains a solution in itself."

In attempted suicide, both men and women tend to use methods that allow for second thoughts or rescue. When people intend to survive, they choose a slowly effective, or ineffective, means, such as an overdose of sleeping pills. That contrasts to the all-or-nothing means like gunshots or hanging used by actual suicides.

Murphy believes women are less inclined to commit suicide because their thinking is more inclusive. While a man might tend to throw aside seemingly peripheral issues to get to the core of a problem, a woman might take more things into account. She may continue to seek input and process problems long after the point where men decide on a course of action. "She'll consider not just her feelings, but also the feelings of others--her family, the children, even acquaintances--and how those people will be affected by a decision like suicide. A man is much less likely to take those things into account. He makes his decision, and it's about him, so he doesn't feel the need to share it with anyone else."

Even though depressed or alcoholic men are less likely to look for help, it still may be possible to prevent many suicides, Murphy feels. Alert physicians might be able to pick up on risk factors and refer men into treatment to help them look for ways to solve their problems without ending their lives. "Half of all people who commit suicide have seen a physician within a month of their fatal act. Mostly, they didn't get diagnosed, and if they did, they didn't get treated very vigorously." Recognition that depressed men may understate their pain or their difficulty with a particular problem is essential if men are ever to benefit from the treatments that protect women from suicide.

SMHAI Home | About Suicide | About Mental Health | Suicide Prevention | Suicide Survivors
Suicide Attempters | Self-Injury - Cutters | Crisis | Donate | SMHAI Library | Online Support & Resources
Speakers & Presentations | Memorials, Remebrances & Celebrations Of Life | Healing Music
Suggested Reading - Survivors | Suggested Reading - Attempters & Self-Injurers | Mental Health Pros.
Upcoming Events | Dr. Roerich's Welcome | Ann Gay's Welcome | Legal & About SMHAI
Privacy Policy | Copyright Notice | Awards Honoring SMHAI | SMHAI Awards Program | Contact

© SMHAI 2004 - 2006 All Rights Reserved.
No copying or redistribution without expressed written permission of SMHAI.
Logo Design by Allen R. Jacobson.
Site launched July 01, 2004.