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Concept
Suicide prevention
Summary
Suicide prevention is a collection of efforts to reduce the risk of suicide. Suicide is often preventable, and the efforts to prevent it may occur at the individual, relationship, community, and society level. Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have long-lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities. Preventing suicide requires strategies at all levels of society. This includes prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities. Suicide can be prevented by learning the warning signs, promoting prevention and resilience, and committing to social change.
Beyond direct interventions to stop an impending suicide, methods may include:
treating mental illness
improving coping strategies of people who are at risk
reducing risk factors for suicide, such as substance misuse, poverty and social vulnerability
giving people hope for a better life after current problems are resolved
calling a suicide hotline number
General efforts include measures within the realms of medicine, mental health, and public health. Because protective factors such as social support and social engagement—as well as environmental risk factors such as access to lethal means— play a role in suicide, suicide is not solely a medical or mental-health issue.
Means reduction — reducing the odds that a suicide attempter will use highly lethal means — is an important component of suicide prevention. This practice is also called "means restriction". It has been demonstrated that restricting lethal means can help reduce suicide rates, as delaying action until the desire to die has passed. In general, strong evidence supports the effectiveness of means restriction in preventing suicides. There is also strong evidence that restricted access at so-called suicide hotspots, such as bridges and cliffs, reduces suicides, whereas other interventions such as placing signs or increasing surveillance at these sites appears less effective.
One of the most famous historical examples of means reduction is that of coal gas in the United Kingdom.
Official source
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