World Suicide Prevention Day: ‘It's not simple’

Patti Ranahan, an assistant professor and acting director of the graduate diploma in youth work program in Applied Human Sciences, studies suicide education and mental health literacy education.

September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. In 2012, Martin Patriquin of Maclean’s Magazine noted that Canada was “home to the suicide capital of the world” in reference to Pikangikum, a reserve in northwestern Ontario where the suicide rate is equivalent to 250 per 100,000.

We may choose to ignore this dismal statistic from a small northern community of 2,400 people. However, closer to home Quebec’s suicide rate was ranked fifth in the world in the past decade. In 2010, Canada was ranked 14th out of 36 countries in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).

For a first world country, known for its peace keeping, hockey, poutine and apologetic politeness, high marks for suicide deaths shouldn’t be a part of our reputation.

So how do we prevent suicide deaths?

It’s about more than risk factors

Millions of research dollars have fuelled suicide researchers’ – or suicidologists’ – quantitative examination of what factors lead to risk for suicide.

Mental illnesses such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, social isolation, and past experience of abuse or bullying have all been linked to death by suicide.

We could expand this list to include divorce or parental separation, age, gender, low self-esteem or addictions as linking factors. Based on the recent Ashley Madison website hack, we might presume that exposure of infidelity may also lead to suicide deaths and add this to our list of risk factors.

Such research efforts may generate useful knowledge in the prevention of suicide. If we can prevent bullying, then perhaps we can prevent suicide deaths. If we can provide effective treatment for addictions or mental illnesses, then perhaps we can prevent suicide deaths.

In true Canadian form, I must apologize for not being able to simplify the complex problem of suicide by providing a simple list of risk factors to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.

Preventing suicide is not that simple.

Youth suicide researcher Jennifer White at the University of Victoria refers to suicide prevention as a “wicked problem” — a problem with such complexity there can be no simple answer.

Suicide occurs within societal, cultural, familial and social circumstances. Weaved into every death by suicide are a multitude of threads that include the person’s experiences, relationships and values, all of which have been shaped by historical, political and geographical environments.

This complexity is what makes suicide troubling and complicated, requiring us to move beyond a simple list of warning signs or risk factors, to understand how suicide occurs in contexts.

So what can we do?

Talk about it

Are you thinking of suicide? Are you suicidal?

Sounds simple, right? But asking if someone is thinking of suicide can be challenging and complex. We may fear we are planting the seed and giving the person the idea to die by suicide, or we may fear the answer “yes” and not know what to do next.

We may believe suicide is a personal topic or feel overburdened in our own lives and not want to take on another person’s problems. Many things can get in the way of us asking about suicide.

Suicide researchers and educators agree we do not plant the idea of suicide in someone’s mind. Rather, asking if a person is thinking of suicide can provide relief for a person who has be struggling alone, combat isolation by creating a connection between people and open the doors to a conversation.

Through conversation, we can help alleviate a person’s emotional distress, help connect them to mental health resources in the community and provide assistance in creating a strong social support system that can be there during difficult times.

We must move beyond our desire for lists of risk factors and simple cause-effect solutions and open the doors for complex conversations in our efforts to prevent the wicked problem of suicide.

Find out more about Concordia’s mental health services.

A short film for Suicide Prevention Day

On September 10, for one day only, alumna film director Patricia Chica, BFA 95, is making her short film Serpent’s Lullaby available to watch for free, in support of Suicide Prevention.

“I want to bring awareness around the topic of depression and explore the reasons why extreme emotional pain can lead someone to commit the ultimate action to end their lives,” she says. “I hope that this poetic take on suicide helps bring light into the lives of those struggling with darker crcumstances. Reaching out to someone who is suffering can truly make a difference.”

Read more about Chica’s short film Serpent's Lullaby, which was selected as a Coup de Coeur (highlight of the Short Film Corner) at the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.