When the pandemic struck more than a year ago, depression rates soared, with 28% of respondents in one survey reporting depressive symptoms, compared with 9% before COVID-19.
As depression levels rise, public health experts usually expect suicide rates to follow. But two new studies show that deaths from suicide may have decreased during the early months of the pandemic.
After one study, published in JAMA, found that suicide rates in the United States dropped from 2019 to 2020, a second study, published in Lancet Psychiatry and featuring data from 21 different countries, suggested that the number of suicides remained unchanged. or was lower in the pandemic. early months.
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According to experts, however, these two studies do not give a complete picture.
“It is too early to know what the impact of COVID on suicide will be,” said Dr. Panagiota Korenis, MD, a forensic psychiatrist at the BronxCare Health System said.
Korenis suspects that there will be a delay before we can fully appreciate the impact on mental health of COVID-19.
The first study, for example, is based on preliminary data. However, Robert Anderson, MD, head of the Mortality Statistics Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he expected the suicide rate for the dates to “remain declining” after a more complete analysis was completed.
“Because they usually need an autopsy, [reported] suicides are more likely to be delayed relative to other major causes of death, “Anderson said, adding that because deaths can be delayed especially during a pandemic, some causes of death are more difficult to count, such as an overdose.” t know what is behind an overdose – if it is by accident or suicide. ‘
According to the authors of the Lancet newspaper, the decline in suicides in the early months of the pandemic can be attributed to the success of government and public mental health interventions, as well as acts of solidarity in the community.
“The government has helped people financially, people who do good things, heroic things, to help elderly neighbors.” These may have been positive things that helped provide stability, Korenis said.
But according to experts, suicide rates can worsen the longer COVID-19 stays.
“In some cases, COVID did inspire us the best,” Korenis added, “but for many people, those moments flowed into burnout and emotional fatigue.”
Psychiatric research shows that there are several factors that can increase a person’s risk of dying by suicide, such as a mental illness such as depression, financial hardship, easy access to lethal drugs – especially guns – and a lack of protective factors such as stability. employment or fixed relationships.
Many experts have seen in the pandemic that many people are losing jobs and struggling to maintain relationships. This can be worrying.
“It’s hard to know why suicides have declined as mental health and economic problems have increased,” Anderson said.
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Even with potentially promising data for the early months of the pandemic, as depression, anxiety disorders, and other mental illnesses increase, many people still experience a greater risk of suicide.
“We are seeing an increase in depression, an increase in anxiety, an increase in psychotic disorders,” Korenis explained, “and how we manage patients will determine how COVID affects our suicide rate once the pandemic is over.”
Nicholas Nissen, managing director, is a writer, host of the podcast “Brain Health with Dr. Nissen” and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
If you or a loved one is experiencing suicidal thoughts, The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers 24/7 free and confidential support. Call 1-800-273-8255 for assistance.
Despite the increase in depression during pandemic, suicide may have decreased: studies originally appeared on abcnews.go.com