``People who attempt suicide don't want to stop living, they want to stop suffering,'' a psychologist points out.
Enrique Echebrua, professor emeritus of clinical psychology at the University of the Basque Country in Spain, published a book titled ``
Psychologist Enrique Echeburúa: 'People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living' | Science | EL PAÍS English
https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-05-20/psychologist-enrique-echeburua-people-who-die-by-suicide-want-to-stop-suffering-not-to-stop- living.html
In his book Muerte por suicidio, Echebrua explains aspects of the very human phenomenon of suicide. According to Echebrua, suicide is caused by humans' high cognitive abilities, and suicide is not caused by a desire to ``stop living,'' but rather by ``a desire to end the suffering and disappointment that one is currently experiencing.'' 'I want to kill myself,' he says, and so he chooses suicide.
Echebrua also answered some other questions about suicide to EL PAÍS.
Q:
Can suicide be interpreted as if it were a disease?
A:
70% to 90% of people who choose suicide have underlying mental illnesses such as depression or addiction, but suicide itself is not a mental illness. Between 10% and 20% choose suicide because they feel an existential crisis that their life is over due to external factors such as financial setbacks. In some cases, people impulsively engage in desperate actions, believing that death is the only way to escape suffering.
Q:
Suicide, especially among young people and young adults, is a growing concern. Has the situation worsened?
A:
In Spain, young people rarely die by suicide. The highest incidence is in adulthood between the ages of 30 and 59 years, with a second peak in those over 65 years of age. Although the number of suicides among young people is less than half of those, we are far more sensitive to suicide among young people, so it is brought up as an important issue.
There are also other phenomena that are associated with but not suicide, such as self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Spain has clearly seen an increase in the number of suicidal people and teenagers who self-harm since the pandemic. To prevent this from leading to an increase in the number of suicides, we need to invest more resources and provide appropriate psychological treatment.
Q:
Why isn't the number of deaths due to suicide decreasing?
A:
This is because there is a lack of understanding about suicide. Although the situation is much better than it was five years ago, the suicide prevention programs currently being developed still cannot be implemented in any meaningful way. There is also a significant lack of psychological understanding of adolescent emotions. Emotional upheavals during adolescence are much more intense than during adulthood, and families and schools have important roles in stabilizing such emotions. Additionally, it must be recognized that suicide can sometimes occur impulsively and without any detectable abnormal behavior. Still, controlling access to drugs and firearms can help prevent it.
Q:
Are there general suicide prevention strategies for all ages?
A:
Additional risk factors that may require monitoring include having a family history of suicide, having previously attempted suicide, being male, being over the age of 60, living alone, and having a chronic or debilitating illness. Masu. Along with mental disorders, depression, alcoholism and eating disorders, it is important to pay attention to these risk factors and provide appropriate medical, psychological and social support.
Q:
Can we improve our knowledge about suicide in order to respond appropriately to it?
A:
There's an approach called 'psychological autopsy.' Determining whether a person's cause of death was an accident or suicide is often requested by insurance companies who want to determine the cause of death. Psychological autopsy involves digging into the psychology of each specific case to determine what circumstances led to the loss of life, with the cooperation of the deceased person's relatives and surrounding people. Although this research is so complex that it has not been conducted systematically, the variables it yields could help establish better suicide prevention programs and find more specific treatments for different age groups. It should help you.
“Suicide is a public health problem,” Echebrua writes in his book, and the better we understand it, the more we can make it difficult for survivors to take appropriate precautions. It emphasizes the importance of being able to combat the prejudices that increase suffering.
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