74 - Do Lockdowns Cause Suicide?

It is late October 2021, Melbourne is emerging from a 77 day lockdown and we’ve just earned the dubious title of most locked down city in the world. Throughout, this difficult situation has been made harder by constant media and political pressure to end lockdowns, often with the argument that lockdowns cause suicide.

We wanted to dig into this properly and find out from the data whether this actually was the case? In this episode we take a look at suicide statistics in four Western countries, talk through the factors that can lead to suicide and provide some tips for how to respond if you or someone you care about is feeling suicidal.

Supports (for Australian listeners):

• If you are in immediate danger: 000

• For crisis support 24/7: Lifeline 13 11 14 or
  Suicide call back service (24 hour phone & online support): 1300 659 467
  or online www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au

• To access local crisis team support, call your state’s contact number: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/crisis-management

• To access private psychologists: see a GP for a mental health care plan or contact local private practices. Your GP may know of local clinics with availability or shorter wait times.

  Research and data:

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data: https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/suspected-deaths-by-suicide/data-from-suicide-registers

• Victorian coroner’s court data: https://www.coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-01/Coroners%20Court%20Monthly%20Suicide%20Data%20Report%20-%20December%202020.pdf

• NZ coroner: https://coronialservices.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/Chief-Coroner-Suicide-Stats-2020-Media-Release.pdf

• NZ symptoms: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34313158/

• UK suicide rates: https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/deathsfromsuicidethatoccurredinenglandandwalesbetweenaprilandjuly2020

• US suicide minorities: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33290944/

• US suicide data: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2775359

• America’s health rankings (data from all states): https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/Suicide/state/ALL?edition-year=2020