Discussion Do we perceive suicide as more common than it actually is?

[Pessimist]

It is known that one person in 5,000-15,000 dies by suicide every year, yet many people have a relative or friend who committed suicide. It is also very common to hear about famous people who committed suicide (for example vocalists of popular rock bands Nirvana, Soundgarden, Joy Division, Linkin Park). On the other hand, data indicates that only one person in 5,000-15,000 actually commits suicide.

 

[oldfritos]

so I got this image from the AFSP website, and from this we know that at least 48,000 of americans died by suicide in 2021. right now there are 331,000,000 alive in the US, therefore in 2021 .0145% of the population in the united states died by suicide. However there are many more attempts than successful ones, though there may be multiple attempts by the same person, so we can roughly estimate that 500,000 people attempted suicide in 2021, therefore making .15% of the united states population have attempted suicide. I don't know what your beliefs are about how popular suicidal thoughts are, but from the data i've gathered I'm estimating that about 1 in 1,000 people in the us have had/have suicidal thoughts.

 

[Pessimist]

View attachment 114187
so I got this image from the AFSP website, and from this we know that at least 48,000 of americans died by suicide in 2021. right now there are 331,000,000 alive in the US, therefore in 2021 .0145% of the population in the united states died by suicide. However there are many more attempts than successful ones, though there may be multiple attempts by the same person, so we can roughly estimate that 500,000 people attempted suicide in 2021, therefore making .15% of the united states population have attempted suicide. I don't know what your beliefs are about how popular suicidal thoughts are, but from the data i've gathered I'm estimating that about 1 in 1,000 people in the us have had/have suicidal thoughts.

Isn't it relatively uncommon?

 

[Eternal Bliss]

What about the 170k people what go missing each year? Surely a good portion of those missing people are just people who committed suicide in secluded places such as forests

 

[Forever Sleep]

I guess a lot more attempt though- so- debatably- the intention to do it is in a lot of people. Isn't it like only 1 in 24 or 25 attempts actually succeeds?

Personally though- I don't really see it as common though. I don't know of any in my family. Only friends of friends type thing.

 

[Pessimist]

I guess a lot more attempt though- so- debatably- the intention to do it is in a lot of people. Isn't it like only 1 in 24 or 25 attempts actually succeeds?

Personally though- I don't really see it as common though. I don't know of any in my family. Only friends of friends type thing.

I find it strange that most people are happy and satisfied with their lives. I would imagine that the suicide rate is something like one person in 500-1,500, not one person in 5,000-15,000.

View attachment 114187
so I got this image from the AFSP website, and from this we know that at least 48,000 of americans died by suicide in 2021. right now there are 331,000,000 alive in the US, therefore in 2021 .0145% of the population in the united states died by suicide. However there are many more attempts than successful ones, though there may be multiple attempts by the same person, so we can roughly estimate that 500,000 people attempted suicide in 2021, therefore making .15% of the united states population have attempted suicide. I don't know what your beliefs are about how popular suicidal thoughts are, but from the data i've gathered I'm estimating that about 1 in 1,000 people in the us have had/have suicidal thoughts.

How is suicidal thinking that uncommon? Aren't suicidal thoughts far more common that attempts?

 

[FuneralCry]

If people don't ctb it doesn't mean that they are necessarily satisfied with existing, the problem is that in this world suicide really is so unnecessarily difficult and I believe the inaccessible, risky and complicated nature of suicide keeps many people here, one example is that I think that for methods like jumping someone must be very determined and it isn't like everyone can easily access high enough jumping locations anyway. I bet that if Nembutal was legalised and could be easily bought, so many more people would choose to free themselves from this existence.

 

[oldfritos]

How is suicidal thinking that uncommon? Aren't suicidal thoughts far more common that attempts?

with the data I gathered it is about 15 people who attempted suicide out of 10,000. However thoughts are more common than attempts I'm just roughly estimating that 1 in 1,000 is the rate of thoughts, outside of this website I really haven't met many suicidal people in my life, so I think it holds up decently. But it may very well be 1 in >1,000

 

[dospi1]

im sure we in here percive it as more comon than its, confirmation bias and you know that, but its defently bigger than the comon statistics says it is, a lo of ctbs are hiden or masquarade as natural or other types of deaths, and i guess that a lot are simply never found.

 

[enough of this]

I think suicide is perceived as less common than it actually is. With world conditions being what they are - Covid, promotion of people distancing themselves from their true nature and each other, living in the emotional dark age - there are more people taking their own lives these days than ever. And, M.A.I.D. (medical assistance in dying) being made legal in Canada, has made it even easier for minors who are simply depressed for any reason, to be euthanized without parental consent.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

I don't perceive it to be rarer than it is. This forum alone unequivocally shows how rare successful completions are.

 

[Pessimist]

I think suicide is perceived as less common than it actually is. With world conditions being what they are - Covid, promotion of people distancing themselves from their true nature and each other, living in the emotional dark age - there are more people taking their own lives these days than ever. And, M.A.I.D. (medical assistance in dying) being made legal in Canada, has made it even easier for minors who are simply depressed for any reason, to be euthanized without parental consent.

How do you explain the statistics (one person in 5,000-15,000 dies by suicide every year)?

 

[Ringo]

A high suicide rate is one of the most negative statistics that any population census can have, since it indicates that something is really wrong on many levels, that's why it has been suspected that counting errors in some stable countries may be intentional. Leaving aside the successful suicides estimate worldwide, we are ignoring all possible unreported cases and miscounting in less developed countries, either due to administrative errors or plain disinterest. We should also include any countries which have stopped publishing any data, since some of them are going through a precarious situation, it is easy to deduce that the suicide rate should be above average. We should also note the suicide attempts that pose as accidents to avoid the consequences on a personal, professional and sentimental level.

 

[AnonymousS]

It is known that one person in 5,000-15,000 dies by suicide every year, yet many people have a relative or friend who committed suicide. It is also very common to hear about famous people who committed suicide (for example vocalists of popular rock bands Nirvana, Soundgarden, Joy Division, Linkin Park). On the other hand, data indicates that only one person in 5,000-15,000 actually commits suicide.

Obviously it's a huge world, but the last i read-albeit about a decade ago-was that someone dies by suicide in the world every 60 seconds. Almost 800,000 every year, more people attempt but fail. Some of those thankful afterwards, others not obviously. It's hard to really quantify, there may also be cases where families do not want it on the death certificate, which is strange but true. It could be said either way to be fairly common, or reasonably rare.

 

[Pessimist]

Is it reasonable to assume that many "regular" overdoses are suicides in disguise, and the determined cause of death is inaccurate?

 

[loyalskateboard]

Suicide is the leading cause of death in my age group in my country. Despite this, I don't know anyone personally who has done it.

 

[love_peep]

i from russia and can tell that in russia a lot of people think about ctb and i know some people who tried ctb i also tried to ctb few weeks ago but at the last moment i got lucky and dont die.

 

[absolomonisgone]

Suicide is far more common than society wants us to know. I know at least 5 people who I believe killed themselves, but we're too clever to make it look like natural deaths. My dad, my 2 uncles and 2 friends. They were all perfectly healthy men, whose cause of death was stomachache--- 3 of them. 2 drowned at night when drunk.
I suspect suicide is far too common.

A high suicide rate is one of the most negative statistics that any population census can have, since it indicates that something is really wrong on many levels, that's why it has been suspected that counting errors in some stable countries may be intentional. Leaving aside the successful suicides estimate worldwide, we are ignoring all possible unreported cases and miscounting in less developed countries, either due to administrative errors or plain disinterest. We should also include any countries which have stopped publishing any data, since some of them are going through a precarious situation, it is easy to deduce that the suicide rate should be above average. We should also note the suicide attempts that pose as accidents to avoid the consequences on a personal, professional and sentimental level.

In north Korea, Kim Jung Un has banned suicide. All local government officials will be held responsible for any suicide in their locality and risk a jail term..., Not making this up. So, imagine how many suicides will not be reported

 

[Nikalakon]

This is probably a better picture of the situation (in the US). It includes death by alcohol and other drugs. Wishing and ultimately acting to escape this world is not limited to people who are considered by a coroner to having committed suicide according to their very limited set of criteria.

The report titled "Pain in the Nation" can be found here:

Pain in the Nation 2023: U.S. Death Rate Due to Alcohol, Drugs, and Suicide Increased by 11 Percent in 2021 - TFAH

www.tfah.org

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Is it reasonable to assume that many "regular" overdoses are suicides in disguise, and the determined cause of death is inaccurate?

Some probably are but there wasn't enough firm evidence to declare it a suicide.

 

[00nobody00]

I would imagine that alot of drug OD's are determined to be accidental but probably are in fact suicides. My primary method of ctb is heroin/fentanyl OD if I ever decide to go through with it because I would like for my loved ones a better possibility of getting life insurance money.