Suicides have declined in Canada amid sudden pandemic uncertainties last year.

Despite a current suicidal crisis, a new report shows promising results. Even in the midst of a sudden lockdown and social isolation, new data suggests there was a 32% drop in suicides in Canada in 2020. Of course, the coronavirus has resulted in increased rates of suicide. anxiety and depression, among other mental health issues, around the world that are closely related. linked to suicidality. Any decrease in this rate is good news as the world continues to grapple with this “new normal”.

In addition, in 2020, “this is the lowest suicide death rate in Canada for more than a decade”, the study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, indicates. Lead author Roger McIntyre of the University of Toronto added: “It is a remarkable discovery that during this terrible time we have seen a decrease. It tells us that there are things we can do [to further decrease the rate]. We don’t need to accept suicide rates. We need to rethink how we approach this from a political point of view.

Research shows that there are more proactive mental health treatment options and protocols that can be implemented not only in Canada but in other parts of the world, including the United States.

McIntyre, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, and his coauthors mainly credited government-funded financial incentives for 2020 and increased support for mental health. He said: “While experts point out that the risk of suicide is very complex and is never caused or reduced by a single factor, sudden and brutal economic insecurity has been associated with declining mental health and suicide. . When you are faced with an economic stress or shock – and it was a first degree economic shock – it significantly worsens security measures, including financial, housing and food. It leads to distress.

The study, which drew data from Statistics Canada on suicide rates over more than a decade, reported: “Our results suggest that government interventions that broadly aim to reduce measures of insecurity (economic, housing, health) and timely psychiatric services should be prioritized as part of a national suicide reduction strategy, not only during but after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. “

Government assistance that was enacted at the onset of the coronavirus, including “the Canada Emergency Benefit which provided employed people with $ 2,000 per month for 28 weeks, the Canada Student Emergency Benefit which provided $ 1,250 per month for 16 weeks, as well as the provisions for small businesses, mortgage leniency for landlords and eviction bans for tenants, ”was cited among the critical reasons the rate fell during a period of uncertainty unprecedented and unexpected overhaul of daily routines. Canada has also received funding for increased mental health services, as well as 24/7 crisis lines.

“Mental health has to do with the suicide rate, but it’s not the ultimate solution,” said Tyler Black, psychiatrist and suicide specialist in Vancouver. “A lot of people who die by suicide have real problems, be it relationship problems, financial problems or health problems. “There isn’t this strong relationship between thinking about it and dying, at the individual level.”

Black added, “The decline in suicide rates in Canada mirrors that of other middle to high income countries. A meta-analysis published in April in The Lancet looked at suicide trends in 21 countries in the early months of the pandemic. “

Sources:

The number of suicides in Canada fell 32% in first year of pandemic from year before, report says

In Canada, suicide rates drop during pandemic, despite rising unemployment