CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. The Nature and Scope of Suicide
2. Recognizing the Progressive Development of Suicide
3. Substance Abuse as a Major Contributor to Suicide
4. Suicide Across the Life Span
5. Special Populations and Suicide Risk
6. Prevention and Early Intervention for Suicide and Substance Abuse Problems

Supplements
References
Resources

Holding the Lifeline
A Guide to Suicide Prevention

National Strategy for Suicide Prevention

Despite the high death toll suicide has exacted through the ages, society has failed to address the problem as a public health concern. Many people view suicide purely in terms of its tragic consequences for individuals, not as a problem plaguing society as a whole. Complicating the issue is the stigma society has traditionally attached to suicide and to mental illness in general. As a result, those people contemplating suicide and their families may be reluctant to seek help. Community members may be apprehensive about taking a proactive stance towards the problem.

Suicide has lagged behind other social problems, such as child abuse and domestic violence, in gaining recognition as an issue that deserves public attention from individuals, organizations, and society. This kind of public attention is essential in order to identify or create the tools and knowledge to prevent suicide and save lives. ref

However, there are hopeful signs that suicide prevention is getting deserved attention. The World Health Organization (WHO), with input from leading experts, developed guidelines to help identify gatekeepers (health workers, teachers, prison officers, members of the media, and others) to identify those at risk, reduce stigma, and take other measures to deter and prevent suicides.

Boosted by calls to action by WHO, leaders in government and nongovernmental associations (NGOs), and suicide survivors (persons close to someone who completed suicide), suicide attempt survivors, and community activists, the Federal government developed a National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action.