How often are "overdoses" actually suicide?

[User111885]

It's sometimes hard to know whether an overdose is accidental or suicide, and not in a destructive metaphorical sense. What do you think?

You must vote in the poll to see the answers.

 

[EmptyBottle]

You need to reply to this thread in order to see this content.

 

[NearlyIrrelevantCake]

There's literally no way to give an accurate answer to this.

 

[EmptyBottle]

There's literally no way to give an accurate answer to this.

unless one reads enough diaries of non lethal ODs (on here, drug use forums, etc) and extrapolates?

 

[microwaved_dawg]

unless one reads enough diaries of non lethal ODs (on here, drug use forums, etc) and extrapolates?

Strong point, although I feel like survivorship bias would lead to some inaccuracies. Still, it's honestly a great way to get a rough estimate.

 

[Forever Sleep]

It's an interesting question but, I couldn't hazzard a guess.

Also, there can be accidental overdoses- in the most likely case of Heath Ledger, Elvis Presley and many more I suspect. Then, there are others where it may been a suicide attempt- Kenneth Williams for example. That may well have been accidental but then, he did seem depressed too so- it would fit.

If you're wondering about the real intention behind an overdose, that's very hard to judge. Even harder to quantify. I have known someone who overdosed. They described it more as being in such a desperate state, they weren't exactly thinking logically. I think they did want to suicide although, common sense would suggest to me that they wouldn't have achieved it via what they had. They were fairly young at the time though so- maybe they didn't realise this.

Not too sure what you're pointing at here though- there seem three main types really- accidental overdose, deliberate overdose as a suicidal gesture (that God awful phrase: 'A cry for help,) or, a genuine suicide attempt. It can be hard to even assess whether it was accidental or deliberate sonetimes- if there was no note left. Especially if the person is a habitual drug user- prescribed or recreational. Let alone what was really going on inside their heads before they took them.

 

[Forveleth]

I will let you know once we can talk to the dead.

 

[rozeske]

I think on the contrary it would usually be an obvious suicide/attempt, unless the lethal dose of the substance is very small and is common for people to accidentally overdose on which usually isn't the case but even in that case like ods on opioids it would still raise a question of was the person a previous user. What reason would a person have to take 200, 300 or more times than the recommend dose of something. Every answer would just point at a possible suicide/attempt.

 

[EmptyBottle]

I think on the contrary it would usually be an obvious suicide/attempt, unless the lethal dose of the substance is very small and is common for people to accidentally overdose on which usually isn't the case but even in that case like ods on opioids it would still raise a question of was the person a previous user. What reason would a person have to take 200, 300 or more times than the recommend dose of something. Every answer would just point at a possible suicide/attempt.

good thinking... quantity of dose probably could be used to distinguish between 'likely accidental', 'likely suicidal', and 'likely negligent (for doses that aren't too obvious)'.