People saved from suicide often say they immediately regretted the choice and very rarely attempt it again. It’s a spontaneous act often driven by mental illness or desperation, it’s not generally a rational decision like physician-assisted suicide is.
You would think so, but the trend seems to hold across methods: you might expect people using “less lethal” methods to report wanting to survive more, than those who used “more lethal” methods. But the rates are similar in those who on the off chance survived a more lethal attempt.
So there’s no confounding “less lethal methods indicate less intent - so more of them survive, and go on to say they didn’t really want to” issue happening here. Occasionally people who use trains or firearms survive - and they also report a similar pattern of regret.
There's far too many people that try again and it's very understandable why others don't. People will look and treat you differently. The fucking government will treat you differently. It could be enough to make people wanna stick with living. However not everyone killed themselves because they struggled financially or because they didn't get enough attention.
No one is saying that people don’t have different motivations, and changes in life situation after an attempt.
I also definitively do not want to give any impression I think “not getting enough attention” or “financial struggles” are the reasons for most people attempting to take their lives. Generally people have struggled for a long time, and have underlying mental health conditions.
However, the evidence is very strong: The vast majority of people, regardless of methods, don’t go on to reattempt - which suggests they changed their mind about dying.
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u/Severe-Magician4036 Aug 13 '21
People saved from suicide often say they immediately regretted the choice and very rarely attempt it again. It’s a spontaneous act often driven by mental illness or desperation, it’s not generally a rational decision like physician-assisted suicide is.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/survival/