World Suicide Prevention Day - 10 September, 2013
Welcome to the official website of World Suicide Prevention Day 2013!
IASP President Dr Lanny Berman's World Suicide Prevention Day 2013 Video Message
View other World Suicide Prevention Day 2013 videos.
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Participate in Cycle Around the Globe, a worldwide initiative to raise awareness about, and to combat, stigma associated with mental health issues and suicidal behaviour and ideation. |
Visit the Official World Suicide Prevention Day Facebook Event Page and join people from all over the world who are supporting World Suicide Prevention Day, survivors of suicide and the many volunteers and practitioners worldwide who work to alleviate suffering through evidence-based research and practices. Find World Suicide Prevention Day banners in 50 languages. |
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Use the WSPD Activities Online Submission Form to let us know about your World Suicide Prevention Day activities. Read about World Suicide Prevention Day activities throughout the world. |
Visit the World Suicide Prevention Day - Light a Candle Near a Window at 8pm on World Suicide Prevention Day page to download e-cards or postcards in now over 40 languages. |
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Download the World Suicide Prevention Day Toolkit. A PDF document that includes clickable links to World Suicide Prevention Day resources and information.
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Download the World Suicide Prevention Day 2013 Press Package that offers sample press releases, a suicide prevention fact sheet and guides on working with the media.
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Download World Suicide Prevention 2013 Facts & Figures PowerPoint Presentation.
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Stigma, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Click here research relating to stigma, mental health and suicidal behaviour and ideation. |
"Stigma: A Major Barrier to Suicide Prevention"
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The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are co-sponsoring World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th. The theme of this 11th anniversary event is "Stigma: A Major Barrier for Suicide Prevention."
According to the WHO and the latest Burden of Disease Estimation, suicide is a major public health problem in high-income countries and is an emerging problem in low- and middle-income countries. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the world, especially among young people. Nearly one million people worldwide die by suicide each year. This corresponds to one death by suicide every 40 seconds. The number of lives lost each year through suicide exceeds the number of deaths due to homicide and war combined. These staggering figures do not include nonfatal suicide attempts which occur much more frequently than deaths by suicide.
A large proportion of people who die by suicide suffer from mental illness. Recent estimates suggest that the disease burden caused by mental illnesses will account for 25% of the total disease burden in the world in the next two decades, making it the most important category of ill-health (more important than cancer or heart diseases). Yet a significant number of those with mental illnesses who die by suicide do not contact health or social services near the time of their death. In many instances there are insufficient services available to assist those in need at times of crisis.
This lack of access to appropriate care is one of the many factors that magnify the stigma associated with mental illness and with suicidal ideation and behaviour. This type of stigma, which is deeply rooted in most societies, can arise for different reasons. One of the causes of stigma is a simple lack of knowledge - that is, ignorance. This type of stigma can be directly addressed by providing a range of community-based educational programs that are targeted to specific subgroups within the society (that is, by age, educational level, religious affiliation, and so forth). The goal of such programs is to increase public awareness of the characteristics and treatment of people with mental illnesses and/or suicidal behaviour, and of the available treatment resources to help individuals with these problems.
But knowledge is not enough to combat stigma. Negative attitudes about individuals with mental illnesses and/or suicidal ideation or impulses - prejudice - is common in many communities. These negative attitudes often do not change with education about mental illnesses and suicidal behaviour. Indeed, many health professionals who feel uncomfortable dealing with persons struggling with mental illnesses or suicidal ideation often hold negative, prejudicial attitudes about such patients. This can result in a failure to provide optimal care and support for persons in crisis. Changing such prejudicial attitudes requires a long-term effort to change the underlying cultural values of the community and a parallel effort to alter the treatment norms of health care professionals.
Stigma is also the underlying motive for discrimination - inappropriate or unlawful restrictions on the freedoms of individuals with mental illnesses or suicidal behaviour. Such restrictions can occur at a personal, community or institutional level. One extreme example is the criminalization of suicidal behaviour, which still occurs in many countries. Discrimination can prevent or discourage people affected by mental illnesses and/or suicidal ideation or behaviour from seeking professional help or from returning to their normal social roles after receiving treatment for an episode of illness or crisis. Clearly, criminalization of suicidal behaviour can be a powerful deterrent on the care-seeking of individuals in crisis who desperately need to be able to access care and support, without being judged or penalized.
At a government or administrative level, stigma can have an impact on resource allocation. In both high-income and low- and middle-income countries stigmatized conditions such as mental illnesses and suicidal behaviour receive a much smaller proportion of health and welfare budgets than is appropriate, given their huge impact on the overall health of the community. Furthermore, fund-raising efforts to support public health initiatives in this area often fall flat because of lack of interest among communities, governments, and international funding agencies; that is, because of stigma.
Attempts to fight stigma, by undertaking massive public education programs, have been of limited effectiveness in reducing the stigma associated with mental illness and suicide. New, innovative methods that are more target-group specific or that creatively use the emerging social media need to be developed and tested. Despite the difficulty and complexity of fighting stigma, persons, organizations and governments committed to the dual goals of improving the quality of life of individuals suffering from mental illnesses and suicidal ideation and of reducing the huge burden of suicide on families and communities don't have an option. Unless stigma is confronted and challenged, it will continue to be a major barrier to the treatment of mental illnesses and to the prevention of suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day provides a special opportunity to refocus our collective energies on addressing this fundamental problem. Changing cultural attitudes about mental illness and suicidal behaviour requires a scientific awareness of the many forces that influence community norms and the concerted effort of a wide range of community stakeholders over a prolonged period of time. World Suicide Prevention Day is an ideal time to inspire people to work towards the goal of developing creative new methods for eradicating stigma. Comprehensive local or national plans for the prevention of suicide will not reach their full potential until the problem of stigma is effectively addressed.
On this year's World Suicide Prevention Day, IASP is hosting its first core activity, which will be to undertake a collective Cycle Around the World, with the aim to globally raise awareness of suicide and its prevention, and to reduce the stigma associated with it. Further details of this activity will be published on the IASP website on a regular basis over the coming months.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY
Become a Facebook Fan of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) www.facebook.com/IASPinfo
WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY is an opportunity for all sectors of the community - the public, charitable organizations, communities, researchers, clinicians, practitioners, politicians and policy makers, volunteers, those bereaved by suicide, other interested groups and individuals - to join with the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the WHO to focus public attention on the unacceptable burden and costs of suicidal behaviours with diverse activities to promote understanding about suicide and highlight effective prevention activities.
Those activities may call attention to the global burden of suicidal behaviour, and discuss local, regional and national strategies for suicide prevention, highlighting cultural initiatives and emphasizing how specific prevention initiatives are shaped to address local cultural conditions.
Initiatives which actively educate and involve people are likely to be most effective in helping people learn new information about suicide and suicide prevention. Examples of activities which can support World Suicide Prevention Day include:
- Launching new initiatives, policies and strategies on World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10th.
- Learning about stigma, mental health and suicide prevention from materials found in IASP's Web resource directory http://goo.gl/rKr8G
- Using the WSPD Press Preparation Package that offers media guides in the planning of an event or activity.
- Downloading the World Suicide Prevention Day Toolkit that contains links to World Suicide Prevention Day resources and related Web pages.
- Holding conferences, open days, educational seminars or public lectures and panels
- Writing articles for national, regional and community newspapers, blogs and magazines
- Holding press conferences
- Placing information on your website and using the IASP World Suicide Prevention Day Web banner, promoting suicide prevention in one's native tongue. www.iasp.info/wspd/2013_wspd_banner.php
- Securing interviews and speaking spots on radio and television
- Organizing memorial services, events, candlelight ceremonies or walks to remember those who have died by suicide
- Asking national politicians with responsibility for health, public health, mental health or suicide prevention to make relevant announcements, release policies or make supportive statements or press releases on WSPD
- Holding depression awareness events in public places and offering screening for depression
- Organizing cultural or spiritual events, fairs or exhibitions
- Organizing walks to political or public places to highlight suicide prevention
- Holding book launches, or launches for new booklets, guides or pamphlets
- Distributing leaflets, posters and other written information
- Organizing concerts, BBQs, breakfasts, luncheons, contests, fairs in public places
- Writing editorials for scientific, medical, education, nursing, law and other relevant journals
- Disseminating research findings
- Producing press releases for new research papers
- Holding training courses in suicide and depression awareness
- SUPPORT SUICIDE PREVENTION 365 DAYS A YEAR by becoming a Facebook Fan of the IASP www.facebook.com/IASPinfo
- Following the IASP on Twitter www.twitter.com/IASPinfo), tweeting #WSPD or #suicide or #suicideprevention
- Creating a video about suicide prevention
- Lighting a candle a candle, near a window at 8 PM in support of: World Suicide Prevention Day, suicide prevention and awareness, survivors of suicide and for the memory of loved lost ones. Find "Light a Candle Near a Window at 8 PM" postcards in over 40 languages at: www.iasp.info/wspd/light_a_candle_on_wspd_at_8PM.php
- Participating in the first World Suicide Prevention Day - Cycle Around the Globe www.iasp.info/wspd/cycle_around_ the_globe.php"
Browse links below to find information on other World Suicide Prevention Days:
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