Shane Anderson

CPH 201
23 September 2015
CPH 201 Research Project: Suicide
Suicide has been around for many years. Although the perception of suicide has changed
throughout the decades. Initially, suicide was not considered a cultural taboo. To ancient cultures, suicide
was seen as a way out for those who were suffering, whether that be from sickness or injury. The first
person to ever question the morality of suicide was a Greek philosopher, Socrates in 400 B.C. People
didnt react kindly to his curiosity and he himself, was forced to take his own life. However, it opened the
door for new generations to debate the act of suicide. During the early years of Christianity, life was very
difficult as they were being discriminated against and often were faced with the choice of suicide or
religious persecution, in which case they would most likely be killed. . It wasnt until the 4 th century,
when a man by the name of St. Augustine, was finally able to address the public and make them realize
that suicide was a sin. He could do this due to the amount of power and authority he had from the church.
Due to this act, Christians everywhere started to change their views from seeing suicide as a positive act
and started to consider it a negative one. Now however, as science has advanced, so to have the ideas and
reasons for suicide. For example, Sigmund Freud was a world renowned developmental psychologist and
discovered that mental illness was almost always associated with those who committed suicide. All of
these developments have been instrumental in shifting attitudes about suicide in modern society. (Baton
Rouge Crisis Intervention, 2011). The topic of suicide really became a public health concern in 1999
when Dr. David Satcher, the Surgeon General of the U.S., released a call to action to prevent suicide. Two
years later, the Department of Health and Human Services published the National Strategy for Suicide
Prevention, which challenges states to take notice and get involved. Today there are many programs that
are involved in trying to make the Surgeon Generals plan come into action, like the American Foundation
for suicide prevention. With these programs, rates of suicide have already started to drop and will
continue to do so as the years go by. (AFSP, 2011).

Suicide has been a major public health issue for many years. Many people dont realize just how
much of the population is affected by suicide but, it is a big problem and there have been a lot of facts and
statistics collected on the topic. For example, according to the American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention, there is an incident rate of over 41,000 suicides reported each year, which makes suicide the
10th leading cause of death in the United States. Also the mortality rate for suicide has risen and fallen
over the years but, historically, it seems to sit at an average of about 12.6 deaths per 100,000 people in the
population,(AFSP). Now, these statistics are based on a lot of different elements. For example, the
population and race that usually has the biggest risk factor for suicide is American Indians, followed by
the younger white population, then African Americans. (Cash, NCIB). Another factor that can determine
suicide rates is gender. Studies have also shown that males tend to attempt suicide a lot more than
females do and as a graph portrays on the National Institute of Health website, during a males teenage
years, their suicide rates skyrocket to around 20 deaths per 100,000 people whereas females tend to stay
the same and average around 5 deaths per 100,000, (Cash, NCIB).
There are many risk factors that are involved with suicide. It is a mental illness, so suicide could
potentially be the outcome of other health conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,
anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders etc. (AFSP, 2015). While mental disorders are a more
common cause for suicide, environmental factors also play a huge role in causing someone to commit
suicide. For example, prolonged stress factors such as harassment, bullying, relationship problems, and
unemployment, (AFSP, 2015) may be another cause. Also, stressful life events may cause such an
emotional shift, that people could potentially commit suicide over them such as a death, divorce, or a loss
of job. The health disparities, or the rate of occurrence varies between cultures. However, in 2007, there
was an estimated 34,598 suicides in the United States. 83.5% of the suicides were non-Hispanic whites,
7.1% Hispanics, 5.5% non-Hispanic blacks, 2.5% Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 1.1% American
Indians/Alaska Natives, (CHDIR, 2015). Now in 2015, that number has increased to over 40,000 deaths
and is now the tenth leading cause of death in the United States (AFSP, 2015). As far as negative health

aspects for suicide, it is pretty self-explanatory, the worst outcome of suicide is death. However, if
someone attempted suicide but failed, there are other outcomes such as severe brain damage which could
lead to paralysis.
Today, suicide is considered a very serious illness and should be considered as such. There are
many programs and foundations in the world today thats main purpose is to prevent suicide, especially
because it is a preventable death. By looking at the history, epidemiological information, and the impact
suicide has on public health, suicide still greatly affects the world but, has been decreasing over time.
Through more research and by always keeping the public informed, these rates are sure to drop even
farther so that hopefully within the next decade, suicide isnt as big of an issue as it is now.

Resources
Cash, S., & Bridge, J. (n.d.). Epidemiology of Youth Suicide and Suicidal Behavior. Retrieved November
14, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2885157/
CHDIR Fact Sheet Health Disparities in Suicides. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?
q=cache:34QwIOOsQecJ:www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/CHDIR/2011/FactSheets/Suicide.pdf
&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Facts and Figures. (2015, June 13). Retrieved September 23, 2015, from
https://www.afsp.org/understanding-suicide/facts-and-figures
The Histoy of Suicide. (2011, June 14). Retrieved September 23, 2015, from
http://crouchfoundation.org/history-of-suicide.html
Suicide Risk Factors. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from https://www.afsp.org/understandingsuicide/suicide-risk-factors