Say someone wants to die by suicide so badly that they go to the Golden Gate Bridge to jump off. But then they are stopped from jumping. What happens to them afterward?
You might think that, once freed from the authority figures who prevented their suicide on the bridge, they still went on to by suicide. After all, they were intent on dying. It would be logical to assume that being prevented from jumping merely delayed their death.
Such an assumption would be wrong. In the 1970s, a researcher named Richard Seiden wanted to find out what happened to 515 people who came to the Golden Gate Bridge to die within the previous 35 years, but who were stopped by California Highway Patrol officers. He published the results in an article titled “Where Are They Now?: A Follow-up Study of Suicide Attempters from the Golden Gate Bridge.”
What Dr. Seiden found is a remarkable testament to the fact that a suicidal crisis is often – very often – temporary.
Of the 515 people whose attempt was interrupted, only 35 later died by suicide in the years to come. Taking into account suicides that might have been missed by researchers, Dr. Seiden stated that 90% of people who tried to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge did not go on to die by suicide.
Living After a Suicide Attempt: Other Research Findings
This research, though 35 years old, still holds true. Even though a prior suicide attempt dramatically increases the risk for future suicide, studies have demonstrated that most people who survive a suicide attempt do not go on to die by suicide:
- In a study out of Finland of 224 people who attempted suicide and were treated at a health care facility, 8% died by suicide within 12 years.
- Researchers in Sweden followed 34,219 people who were hospitalized following an act of intentional self-harm. During 3 to 9 years of follow-up, 3.5% died by suicide.
- One study followed 100 people who had survived a suicide attempt by overdose. At the end of the 37-year follow up, 13% had died by suicide. (This study’s mortality rate is higher than others, almost certainly because of the long follow-up period and the serious nature of the attempt, which warranted admission to a hospital.)
- Overall, a recent review of 177 research studies around the world found that 4% of people who survived intentionally hurting or poisoning themselves went on to die by suicide within 5 years.
Why Do Suicide Attempt Survivors Stay Alive?
There are different possible reasons why people who attempt suicide, or try to make such an attempt, might choose afterward to stay alive. The most intuitive reason is that suicidal crises are, by their nature, temporary. More often than not, the crisis passes.
Too, people who attempt suicide may receive the help they need afterwards. Friends and family may rally to their side. Therapists and doctors may help provide relief. The person’s reasons for dying may begin to fade.
Another possibility is that the instinct to live kicks in once someone comes close to dying. Until then, that instinct may have been obscured by depression, stress, hopelessness or despair.
The Instinct to Live after a Suicide Attempt
The story of Kevin Hines demonstrates the clarity that can finally appear when someone’s life is on the line. In 2000, he actually did jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Precious few people survive such a fall; the water about 200 feet below acts the same as concrete when a person lands on it at high speed.
Although severe depression led him to jump off the bridge, Kevin Hines has stated:
“The very second I let go, I knew I had made a big mistake.”
For Kevin Hines, the will to live kicked in immediately. He managed to turn himself upright in the few seconds it took for him to hit the water; this way, he did not land on his head. After he was rescued, he continued to live, and lives still, serving as a suicide prevention advocate at the national level.
Life and Death After a Suicide Attempt
Obviously, the will to live does not reassert itself in everyone who has tried to die. We cannot overlook that 10% of people who survive a suicide attempt do go on to die by suicide. And half of people who die by suicide had attempted suicide at least once previously.
The tragedy of suicide is indisputable. The ongoing survival of people who attempt suicide is not (always) inevitable.
Yet it gives me great hope that the vast majority of suicide attempt survivors remain just that – survivors. This is perhaps the best argument for preventing suicide. It is true that suicide sometimes defies even the best efforts to thwart it. But overall, the evidence is that prevention is not simply a temporary delay of death.
Suicide prevention can save lives. And for most of those whose lives were saved, life goes on for many more years to come.
© Copyright 2013 Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW, All Rights Reserved. Written for www.speakingofsuicide.com. Photos purchased from Fotolia.com
Edited on April 26, 2017.
Hello.
I am sorry for the silly question but if someone’s problems are too huge to handle and may regarded as ‘beyond help’ or ‘cannot be helped’ can patients ask to be euthanized or something like that? Is there anything we can do even if suicide may be the answer because of someone’s huge problems? Thank you very much
Pram,
In the U.S., euthanasia is illegal. Some states permit “assisted suicide” (also called assisted death) if the person has a terminal illness with a prognosis of 6 months or less. Some countries permit euthanasia. You can read more in this Wikipedia post.
As a victim of child abuse, my father tried to kill me on several occasions. My mom never took care of me, so my grandparents stepped in. But they’ve also told me they regret it, asked me if I could just be bisexual for them. In their Catholic household, nobody informed me of homosexuality in the bible. In Catholic school, I came out, and got discriminated by teachers more than students. I had to quit believing in god before I knew how I really felt on the matter. My best friend and I protected each other. But recently, I took around 100 Benadryl, drank some 99 bananas, among other substances, and tried to say goodbye to her. I woke up in the hospital, but there’s a clawing urge to return to that unaware state. But please don’t use this statistic to shame survivors for attempting, or to invalidate people’s often silent pain. Understand the feeling. I’m not going to be here forever, and I don’t know how long I truly want my life to last. But I feel much, much older than I am and live I’ve lived several lives. A part of my body always feels tired and it slowly gets worse by day. There’s nothing I want, nobody I want to talk to and the list keeps getting shorter.
My name is Denis and I live in England I am still recovering at the moment on 22nd of April 2020 I attempted to end my life I jumped off a 5 story carpark and survived I broke my left leg in 3 places and my right ankle in 6 places and my back in 2 places but I am lucky because I am recovering well and I can walk .people say its a mircle but I feel gulty because no one knew about the thoughts I was having for years because I did not tell any one to the outside world I was the life and soul of the party .I feel ashamed that now every one is worried about me and that is not what I wanted. I feel selfish but I feel like I still have to be brave for people because of their fear I might try again. I had my suicidal thoughts since I was a child I lost my mum when I was 9 years old she took her own life and even now after my attempt I still don’t know how to feel about what happened to her and what I have done to my self but I know I will have to find a way to live with the impact of my attempt and hopefully find a way to some sort of happiness
Please seek help, therapy to work through your trauma, it must be so hard to have lost your mum in this way and your nine year old self could only feel abandoned, not enough to have stopped her. I am sure your little self felt “am I not lovable enough” but it was never about you, your mum was in pain and obviously thought you would be better off without her, but it is not a reflection on you, hard to accept as children are programmed to feel the centre of the world. I want you to know you are loveable and precious. I am sure your mum will be watching over you, so sad that she caused you so much pain, please seek help, you are precious, with love xxx
Thank you. This site continues to distract me from my suicidal thoughts. I attempted when I was a teenager. It was in 1984. At the time, a made for TV movie, named “Silence of the Heart” came out. As a teenager, I related so closely and had so many mixed emotions in comparing the results of my vs the character’s attempts. Throughout the years, I’ve engaged in self-injurious behaviors. Lately, the suicidal thoughts have permeated my brain. I find myself returning to that time in my life and wondering if this is the way I’m supposed to go, or if the survival instinct will continue to win. At this point, the instinct is what keeps me living.
What % of those people were financially ruined (ie dead broke) with no job or no home? Sure if you’ve got someone/s to bail you out after your attempt, yeah you’ve got a reason to live. But what about people like me? I am dead broke, have exhausted both my savings and retirement stash, I am about to have my car repo’d and can’t find a job. Which will turn into the vicious cycle of no job= no money, and no money = no job. Try convincing someone like me that life is worth it. What, I’m supposed to carry on with the HOPE that things MIGHT get better. So in a couple days with no vehicle no money and no job, I’m just supposed to trudge on, because “life is precious” or whatever other placating device people Banty about?
Dear Anthony, [feb.6.2019 @9.26am].
I’m here. I hear you. Challenges, extreme challenges. Getting through them is the way to make your life your own again.. There is a strength within you. God Bless You. I pray tonight.
How are you Anthony?
I feel fortunate and very grateful that so many individuals take their time and devote energy to sharing what they have experienced in their lives-it is so difficult for most people to understand in its wholeness-the value of life ..the science of every day living and the extreme depth and mystery and solstice to human beings, but one way to start understanding why people: innocents commit suicide is to acknowlege the exact factors of why a healthy person would just turn off the switch to existence. My family lied to me about basically everything relevant and valuable in life. They lied about every imaginable factor of surviving in life. I will just speak it: Their lies destroyed me and there is no one on earth greater than you and those you love and want to protect. Look at life this way Instead of allowing a human being to be a target almost like a bomb dropping on ringed target Simply flip the idea of all the violence and fear over…..Draw a Large Heart then several hearts within …Make a plan for dreams and plans …Stick to it .. The main principle to this is very simple Taking energy and harnessing it for the good and nothing can go wrong……..
I tried commiting suicide and ended up brain dead… Then after I got out of the coma, I was put in rehab for 11 months where I kept trying to break my neck and die because I missed my fiance so much (he wasn’t allowed to visit me because he had attempted suicide with me too since he didn’t want to live without me). And now I’ve been out of rehab for 5 months and it’s weird because all a sudden everything is going my way now…. Except that my fiance was making me depressed because he wouldn’t move in with me again like how we were living together before. But the other day I told him that and now he’s moving in with me again so my life is going good again!
I dont understand why things are suddenly going so well for me though.. You’d think karma would hit me and make my life way worse but I guess the universe wants me alive for some reason?
Splashstorm,
You’ve been through an enormous amount. It’s great to hear that things are going well for you now. Thanks for sharing your story here. It’s sad how much you’ve suffered, and it’s inspirational how differently you feel right now.
My mother battled w depression I watched her battle hard all my life and still. She tried to take her life when I was 12. I use to hate her for wanting to leave me, got diagnosed w depression at 15 have done so many therapy sessions. 18 I held a gun to my head in my backyard w my finger on the trigger. I couldn’t pull all the way. Confessed to my dad and got shipped to a hospital. Have had lots of therapy after that. I’m about to be 22, medicated trying to live normal… with constant suicidal thoughts. I often want to jump off the bridge by my apartment. I fantasize a lot about suicide. I feel if I constantly feel like this over the years why don’t I just die now? (felt good to be honest for once)
Skeleton,
I’m sorry to hear about all the pain you’ve been through. You definitely are not alone, and it does often feel good to be honest about suicidal thoughts — to speak what many people consider to be the unspeakable.
I wonder if you might benefit from talking with like-minded folks at ChronicSuicideSupport.com. They have a good, nonjudgmental, and supportive discussions at ChronicSuicideSupport.com/forum/.
You also can find other places to get help by phone, email, chat, or text at http://www.SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources/#immediatehelp.
You can’t will people to live. I woke up on my own after my first attempt. Had medical intervention on the second. Has left me pretty much bankrupt and not willing to live. Others need to respect the decision.
I tried to commit suicide when I was 18. Obviously, I failed. I meant it, and I almost succeeded. The attempt was no cry for help. It was a serious, intentional attempt to end my own life. Afterward, I was disgusted and angry. I wanted to distance myself from it as much as I could so that people would leave me alone. I pretended to have an awakening and successfully faked a born-again quality joy that warded off the idiotic, feeble attempts of others to “help” me. I knew then that I would never try it again. I also knew that there was no hope whatsoever for what was wrong with me. I am now 49, and I fantasize about suicide knowing I will never actually do it but wishing it was an option. I am resigned to staying alive until I die in some other way. That is no way to live, but that is the reality. I inherited two guns from my Dad, and I will take possession of them this month. That changes things.
Ive been hospitalized 4 times in the past 6 weeks, after my 9th suicide attempt. Many self harm injuries, stitches. I just got out two days ago. They are doing a med wash and released me with no meds, and actually said if I come back, I will be admitted long term. So, I have two choices: Miraculously stop all self harm and suicide attempts, or have to make sure they are 100% successful, because I cant stand the thought of long term in patient. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place
I am not sure anybody really wants to die… but I know many people, including myself, who are just sick and tired of living and want it to be over. Healthcare sucks, Government sucks, Law Enforcement Sucks, the economy sucks, the housing market, job, market, and prospects suck, no body likes me, including myself, and I really don’t like anyone else either.
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My reason to live is so I don’t hurt people who care but what if you have no one who cares there was a time I had no one it was only my stupidity that got the hospital aware of my attempt. What do you tell the ones who still perceive they have no one how do I get through to him? He has no one else but me.
I am suicidal have been for the past week. I have to attend Court for something I have not done, the pressures that as put on me is colossal, yetI still have to attend, I know I will collapse in court from the stress and also have a serious heart condition on medication for it. what can I do
After my attempt at suicide, I tried to find information about my feelings and what others were feeling. Aside from seeing a therapist, I didn’t find anything out there to help. I wanted to talk with others in the same situation but I could understand how that may not be in the best interest of either party. I did find this website and it has so much information that I needed to read. I can’t tell you how much of what you write touches me in some way. Thank you for providing this site.
How many of the survivors were so injured by the attempt that they were unable to complete the act?
So they don’t die, but continue miserable lives wishing for it to be over. I’m not sure that preventing suicide is such a noble act. I put up a front so my kids won’t end up the same way. It amazes me that the vast majority of suicides are by men, and virtually all of the articles about it are by women. Have you found commonality in your suicidal patients? I would bet that most, if not all, had narcissistic mothers. America feeds narcissistic women because their joy is in materialistic consumption, the backbone of this country that once believed life had a higher purpose.
This is certainly true for me: narcissistic mother and sister. I agree with you completely, Anonymous. Its always women telling men what we should be. Same with divorce. Even though 2/3 are started by women, Virtually every article is written by women.
Yep, narcissistic mother here too
Your comments are false. More women attempt suicide but more men complete it because men use more lethal methods. There are far more narcissistic dad’s and men than there are women and mothers. America doesn’t feed narcissistic people and men are more materialistic. A narcissistic parent doesn’t cause suicide, either life’s problems do or mental illness does.
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True or false is a perception that changes from person to person. Especially when it’s an opinion… so your both right.
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Sometimes, every day is a bad day.
YEAH?
Well living isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Everything says “Get help”. But what if you dont want help? And its been a long term plan, for 35 years, but become refined in that time. Perfectly so. In Mental Health circles there is a saying , that “Sometimes suicide is inevitable”. Ive worked in Mental health, Ive lost a family member through suicide. We will never recover from it. Both my son and I said we woud never consider it again, after that.
But I have. And now I have the means to do it. Tears ago, when my children were younger, I actually reached a point where I went beyond imagining the trauma and lifelong suffering, to my children; such was my pain. Somehow I survived.
But 10 years later, Im there again. And the children are adults now. I cant get beyond the pain. I just need time to tidy up affairs, belongings, finances, assemble the plan
Pandora,
I’m sorry you’re feeling so bad that your suicide seems, to you, to be inevitable. I address the myth of “inevitable suicide” in this post. I hope you will read it and take its words to heart.
Thank you for contributing to the discussion. If you want to talk with someone immediately by phone, text, or chat, please check out the Resources page.
Pandora
My advice to you or to those considering suicide or attempted suicide, please THINK of your loved one, your family and friends. My husband killed himself 6 weeks ago at home to put a closure on our marital problem.
But he didn’t and will never know that what he had actually solved – only his own problem- feeling/depression.
His passing causes lots of pain, sadness and changed others’ lives entirely. Me and my children’s life broke into pieces and our life will never be the same. I am literally living day by day and full of guilt, regret and anger. If you really love someone, please open up to them, share your feelings and talk to someone, suicide will never be the solution to any problem but creating pain to your loved one.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. A little over four years ago I couldn’t see an end to the emotional pain and despair I felt and became obsessed with thoughts of killing myself: another failed marriage, another lost job, another lost home, my girlfriend left me and just as we seemed to be getting back together died of a stroke. Life really sucked and so did I. I blamed myself for everything that was wrong and then some. Not having the “courage” to fulfill my plan, I checked into treatment centers and each time I checked out I sank into suicidal depression again. But it was my final stay at a state mental hospital when I began reading a book that finally spoke to me: “Dying for a Drink”, and for the first time in my life I recognized the fact that I was an alcoholic and that I had been treating major depression with a depressant. Here I thought I just occasionally drank too much.
Key to my recovery was becoming realistic about my part in creating the calamity called my life, but also needed to recognize others’ responsibilities as well. For example, upon hearing me take total responsibility for the failure of my first marriage a gifted woman who is a counselor and pastor said, “I typically find that both parties share responsibility equally. There were probably signs that you had a drinking problem from the very beginning.” It was a startling revelation. I said, “Well, the night we met I got so drunk I passed out on the living room floor. And I got very drunk every time I drank after that, which was quite often.” She replied, “She probably figured she could fix you.” This was the beginning of my recognition of the fact that I wasn’t the horrible person I made myself out to be, in fact, my story is very much like a lot of alcoholics I’ve met.
The details of your life will, of course, be different but we have our humanness in common. We don’t like living in pain, and we look for ways of ending that pain and, being creatures of habit, we do it in old familiar ways because that’s “what we know”. It turns out that I had, and still have, many misconceptions about myself and the people in encounter. I used to believe my problems are so intractable that the only way out of my pain was suicide. That’s simply not true, but it took stepping outside my beliefs, becoming teachable and following the leads of others to find a life worth living.
You can find a life worth living, too, if you set your mind to finding solutions. But as long as your “solution” is to kill yourself , you won’t see them even if they’re right in front of you.
I understand completely. Sometimes, life just sucks and the pain of living is unbearable. Wishing you peace…
I am both, not realizing this until reading today My dad ended his life by his own hands , when I was 9. My brother did the same in 2002. i’ve suffered depression for Years, 2 suicide attempts in 2008. All theses years following, I did not feel good about myself, am reunited with my nephew, reading up on how to talk to him. About his dad’s suicide, your article helping me a lot to help. When I will be talking to him, also sure helps me to see I am suicide attempt survivor. I am a survivor as well of rape and spousal abuse, Am feeling empowered today, thanks to you. Bonnie
For me, the will to live kicked in. As well, though, I believe I may have accidentally given myself something like ECT. My overdose gave me seizures. When I woke up a day later, my depression had greatly improved. I once attributed that simply to having realized I wanted to live and (narrowly) surving my attempt. Now I wonder whether I also pressed reset on my brain.
I was driving toward the Hoover Dam bypass bridge from Memphis over 4 years ago to jump off. I was determined and had written a detailed letter with instructions for the police and family. As I entered Oklahoa, something –I like to think it was my Higher Power–inspired me to call my brother in Illinois and I ended up going in and out of treatment centers until I finally realized that I’m an alcoholic and that there was hope for me. I still think about suicide, although not as often. It seems to be an “if all else fails, I’ll just kill myself” attempt to cope that gives me short-term comfort but it–like alcohol–only provides temporary relief and I’m still left with my limited ability to cope with life. Any suggestions?
My son’s father committed suicide and in the moments he was alive after shooting himself he kept saying sorry I shouldn’t have never done this over and over. Let’s get real here life sucks and its hard but don’t give up. There’s people who love you and want you to keep pushing even if your soul reason is living to not put them through that heartache. God will come through for you but you have to make an attempt. Life.church has some really good online sermons I highly suggest that. Reach out to someone, anyone because I can tell you they have no idea how you feel. Be blunt and honest don’t sugar coat how you feel. If all else fails do something drastic. Take a trip somewhere I mean what do you have to lose, on your journey to wherever you may see life worth living make yourself do something. Suicide isn’t an option, keep telling yourself that. Praying for you. One desperate and hurt person to another. Keep pushing on.
I lost my boyfriend to suicide two years ago and I have not been able to forgive myself. I saw the signs, the depression, his feelings of hopelessness, but somehow it’s easier to see the signs after it happens and not while you are in the throes of this emotional rollercoaster. I was so worried about him, but he refused to get help and he kept drinking. His father had died by suicide and even though I knew all of this, I couldn’t see the forest through the trees. Maybe I didn’t want to think he could actually do it. He had a gun in the house that he never used, was trying to sell, I didn’t even think of it during this time. How could I have been so stupid? For those who are thinking about suicide, I know what happens after you’re gone isn’t part of the thought process, but believe me, you might end your pain, but the trajectory of pain caused to others is also insurmountable. I died that day too.
Joan,
I am very sorry for your loss. It’s agonizing to lose someone you love to suicide, and you describe that agony very powerfully.
I’m wondering if you’ve seen the post “If Only”: Self-Blame After a Loved One’s Suicide. I think it could be helpful to you.
Also, on the Resources page, I list a number of websites and other resources for people who have lost someone to suicide. If you haven’t already joined a support group for other suicide loss survivors, that might help you; such groups are available in person and online.
There’s another post that might be helpful to you, too: “You Can’t Do Everything”: Limitations in Helping a Suicidal Person. I’m recommending this because of your sense that you could have stopped the suicide from happening if you hadn’t been “so stupid,” as you so painfully put it. But it’s possible there’s not more you could have done. He already had refused to get help or to stop drinking. He might also have refused to remove the gun from the home, too. It’s impossible to know but something to consider, in case you’re only considering the set of possibilities for which you blame yourself.
Good luck to you, Joan. This is a terribly hard process, and I hope that you’re able to get help and support from others.
Hi Joan. My name is Steven. I just read your post. I’m sorry to hear of your loss
I recently lost a good friend to suicide. She was struggling with depression for years. I tried to help her, I really did… Except I didn’t. I supported her desire to stop taking her medication. I warned her of the possible dangers of the physical response to discontinuance, not thinking of her emotional well being.
I blame myself 100% for her suicide.
Dealing with the guilt is the hardest thing I have ever dealt with. At times I hate myself.
That’s why I searched for answers …and I found this site.
I guess I have started to realize it’s not my fault…it’s no one’s fault when a loved one commits suicide. It happens.
I hope you can find peace within. I know how hard it is.
Peace be with you… Steven.
Steven,
Thank you for reaching out to Joan and offering your support. I love to see that in the Comments section; I find it beautiful when people can connect in this way and, even more, when someone can tell another person what they haven’t believed for themselves. I hope you believe your words here, or at least are beginning to. Thanks again.
What happens is if you dont kill yourself you spend the rest of your life being told you didnt mean it. People are stupid. They understand the battle with weight loss and a zillion other things but not suicide. Simply put unless you die the battle won or pain doesnt matter.
Anonymous,
I hate when people invalidate another person’s pain by suggesting a suicide attempt wasn’t a sincere result of suffering. It’s unfair.
You might be helped by connecting with other people who have attempted suicide and can understand not only what can lead a person to do that, but also what comes after. A good place to start is the Facebook group Live Through This. Also Live Through This’ website has beautiful portraits (photographic but also in prose) of people who survived a suicide attempt.
I love the analogy with weight loss. Even for people who passionately wish and perhaps even need (for health reasons) to lose weight, they do not always prevail. So it is with anything else, including suicidal thoughts.
Your pain matters. Your battle won matters. Don’t believe anyone who tells you differently.
As a person who has tried countless times to end my life, even shooting myself in the head, we are stuck living with yet another feeling of failure when we fail and continue suffering. At this point I feel like I’ll just maim myself or end up locked up for a minimum of six months( yes that’s happened to me). I’m afraid to try again and it just adds for anger, desperation, loss of control over my own life and guilt for those in my life who have to worry. I worry almost everyday that I’ll maim myself again and not die. It’s not always a change of mind when deciding not to jump it’s fear of failure
Hi Londa,
Yes I know this fear of failure as well. Have you read What’s In the Way Is the Way by Mary O’Malley? She attempted suicide three times and was in mental hospitals, etc. She “failed” at killing herself and learned a different process of questions to see her feelings. It may help,, Kind Regards,
Dayna
I am a suicide survivor from India. I tried by drinking mosquito poison. My failure as a person was responsible for my extreme step. I know you mean well, but I always feel I wished I never survived. Now I don’t know if I can fight it, but coping with failure and constant depression is impossible.
I mean how long can I go ahead.
Sadly, your post is being used by some commenters to justify the Golden Gate Bridge net boondoggle. Seiden’s study shows that those who encounter a personal, human intervention during the suicide attempt are less likely to end up dying of suicide (though he admits that another big percentage continue self-destructive behaviors–e.g., excessive drinking–that lead to an early “natural” death), but it says nothing about the efficacy of physical barriers. and the evidence around them is not good. In Toronto, the barrier at the Bloor Viaduct did not reduce the number of people who died of suicide by jumping in the city; it just moved them to other locations. The suicide barrier on the Sydney Harbour Bridge simply rerouted jumpers to a cliff popularly known as The Gap. The Golden Gate net project is like putting a bandaid on an ulcer.
ChiMaxx, thank you for writing and for raising important points in your comment. It gives me a good opportunity to dispel concerns that others may have, too.
You note that installation of a “suicide barrier” at the Bloor Viaduct in Toronto merely caused people to go to other locations in Toronto to die by suicide. In fact, the increase in suicides at other locations in Toronto did not make up for the dramatic decrease in suicides at the viaduct itself. You can read more about this at http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4447.
Overall, a meta-analysis of numerous studies that looked at bridges’ suicide barriers found them to be effective. The article’s abstract states: ” Following the interventions, there was an 86% reduction in jumping suicides per year at the sites in question (95% CI 79% to 91%). There was a 44% increase in jumping suicides per year at nearby sites (95% CI 15% to 81%), but the net gain was a 28% reduction in all jumping suicides per year in the study cities (95% CI 13% to 40%).”
These findings are consistent with other studies that have looked at “method substitution,” which can occur when one suicide method is made unavailable and people substitute it with another. Generally, research into method substitution has found that blocking access to a suicide method results in fewer suicides overall, even when taking into consideration those suicides by people who found other ways to die. Simply put, means restriction saves lives.
I am hopeful that similar results will be found after the suicide barrier at the Golden Gate bridge is in place. If prior research is any indication, the barrier will save lives, even when taking into account people who go elsewhere to die by suicide. But, as you said, the problem is also bigger than a question of means. Suicide needs to be addressed from many angles, of which means restriction is only one.
Thanks again for your thoughtful comment.
I am so glad my attempt did not end in my death. I was able to make it out of the hopelessness and despair that led to my attempt. My hope for others feeling like that is they tell someone who can help them.
Thank you for sharing, Stacy. It is always wonderful to hear from someone who made it out to the other side. You provide inspiration to others who still are stuck in that hopelessness and despair.
I know someone who hanged themself 18 months ago after a buildup of personal problems and much alcohol that night, but rescue services were called and saved him. He recovered physically, but mentally he is now depressed and on anti-depressants,has anxiety attacks, is too emotional for working, and keeps saying he wishes he had succeeded with his attempt as he feels a burden to everyone.
That is so sad, Julie. I hope that he is able to get effective help, both psychologically and pharmaceutically. I wonder what psychotherapy he has tried. Has he tried cognitive behavior therapy? Dialectical behavior therapy? Those two have shown some effectiveness at reducing suicidal ideation and behavior.
It certainly sounds like your friend’s antidepressants are not working. There are so many types of antidepressants these days (around 40), plus mood stabilizers, plus antipsychotic medications that can also be used to treat depression. And these different medications can be combined at various dosages. So there are many, many more medications and medication combinations that he can try. I hope he is seeing a psychiatrist for his medications, not a PCP, because psychiatrists are much more well versed in the benefits, risks, side effects, etc. of the different medications.
The sad thing is that, as I say in my “letter,” some of what your friend thinks and believes may actually be true, but his mind is probably also shutting him out of other truths that could balance out his pain. For example, he may be telling himself that the way he feels and is now is the way he will feel and be forever. It may feel 100% true to him. But in reality, he can’t know what the future holds. None of us can.
I often think that if we are going to make up what we tell ourselves about our future, we might at least make it good. Or, at least, balanced!
Good luck to your friend, Julie, and thanks for commenting. Maybe some of the posts on this site could be helpful to him?
I am a three time attempt suicide survivor and it has been a year since my last attempt and the ideation has pretty much left me. I am a 60+ year old woman with four grown kids and six grandkids and when the darkness set in I could no longer see the effect this would have had on their lives. Found it was in part due to hormone imbalance along with sugar imbalances, throw in that it’s winter along with little sleep, emotional bombs going off and I had the perfect storm. I am so very grateful now to be alive and I hope to find ways to assist others going through the deep abyss that can sometimes take over your entire being… take another breath, and another……….
I have battled the thoughts of suicide for many years but after I had children those thoughts died. I live with a higher purpose now, but prior to my children I went through hell and constantly entertained the thought of killing myself.
I wish you all the very best and I pray you each find a way to manage and control the thoughts of suicide.
Hello Tony, so sorry for my belated response. It is wonderful that having children seems to have inoculated you against suicidal thoughts. Children are a major reason for living for many people who battle suicidal thoughts. Parenthood does not protect everyone, though. There are many people with children whose pain or distorted thinking overrides all else, in spite of their best wishes. The memoir “Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide” captures very well, to a painful degree, how someone who deeply loves their children can simultaneously feel pulled to end her life. Whether one’s anchor to life is children or some other passion, it is a gift to have a reason for living that outweighs suicidal thoughts. I wish everyone could receive this gift, and I am grateful that you and others have done so!
Your message here is a good one. I think this message needs to be made more clear and put in ads, etc. similar to cancer ads, etc.
Thanks for sharing, Anne. We certainly do need to continue educating people about suicide prevention, including the reality that most people who survive a suicide attempt choose life afterwards. I know that this surprises many people.