This Collection was designed for National Suicide Prevention Week 2016 (NSPW), organised by the American Association of Suicidology.
We wanted to create a resource of Open Access articles about suicide prevention and stigmatisation associated with mental illnesses in order to raise awareness and education of these important issues. This collection contains general research articles about suicide prevention, and others focus on aspects of stigmatisation.
Some facts about suicide (source):
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States with one suicide occurring on average every 12.3 minutes.
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds.
The elderly make up 14.5% of the population, but comprise 18% of all suicides.
Approximately 1,069,325 American attempt suicide each year.
It is estimated that five million living Americans have attempted to kill themselves.
Every year in the United States, more than 21,300 men and women kill themselves with a gun; two thirds more than the number who use a gun to kill another person.
An estimated 4.8 million Americans are survivors of suicide of a friend, family member, or loved one.
Untreated depression is the leading cause for suicide. Mental health issues are still treated differently than other health concerns and people struggling are still stigmatised, which keeps many people from seeking treatment.
We ask that this collection be shared as widely as possible, as well as the individual articles it contains. Every article is completely open to anyone to comment on, and we strongly encourage sharing of feedback, experiences, and thoughts.
NSPW is about opening the conversation about mental health and inviting people in. Suicide prevention is everyone’s business.