Why Do People Commit Suicide?

Global suicide rates are rising. In order to understand what's going on, and how best to prevent this trend from continuing, Laci examines the underlying factors that lead people to take their own lives.

Read More:
Risk Factors and Warning Signs
"Risk factors for suicide are characteristics or conditions that increase the chance that a person may try to take her or his life."

First Major Study of Suicide Motivations to Advance Prevention
"A University of British Columbia study sheds important new light on why people attempt suicide and provides the first scientifically tested measure for evaluating the motivations for suicide."

Assessing Motivations for Suicide Attempts: Development and Psychometric Properties of the Inventory of Motivations for Suicide Attempts
"This study describes the psychometric properties of the Inventory of Motivations for Suicide Attempts (IMSA)."

Study: Identifying Suicide Risk Factors
"People with depression are at a 32 times increased risk, while social factors are more closely associated with suicide in men than in women."

Why People Commit Suicide
"Understanding suicidal ideation can help prevent suicide."

Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S.
"Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm."

Suicide Among Adults Aged 35--64 Years — United States, 1999--2010
"Suicide is an increasing public health concern. In 2009, the number of deaths from suicide surpassed the number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the United States."

Sociodemographic, psychiatric and somatic risk factors for suicide: a Swedish national cohort study
More effective prevention of suicide requires a comprehensive understanding of sociodemographic, psychiatric and somatic risk factors.

Laci's Suicide Resources:

1-800-SUICIDE
1-800-273-TALK

Watch More:
When Is Assisted Suicide Okay?:
'Shrooms Treat Depression:
New Music Therapy:

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[baconjunior]

Nobody knows the pain unless they go through it themselves. It's a horrible feeling.

[spacewalker]

Dying once is less painful than dying everyday

[alinadearing]

Im not afraid of dying, im afraid of living my life as a disappointment

[fadialbert]

I wish i can donate my life to someone who really wants to live..

[echo.allison]

it's hard to understand something that you haven't gone through, isn't it?

[convict]

why do people commit suicide? it's because some of us aren't born as fortunate as others. some of us have to be the loser in high school with no friends, have parents who don't understand you or bothers to understand you, some of us have to lose our entire childhood to loneliness and also end up completely alone to an older age. some of us have so much to offer this world but nobody bothers to recognize the talent and goodness inside of them just because they don't meet society's standards of coolness. and all the while, they are ashamed of having to be born this way, ashamed to ask for help to people who were born more fortunately, ashamed to pay them for help, ashamed for being born into one of the weaker creatures who feel like evolution is trying to select them for extinction. some of us have absolutely no hope like that. we don't want help from these so called professionals who don't know how we feel. we just want out.

but if you're one of these kinds of truly unfortunate people and you found the courage to continue on in this harsh, intensely cruel world with your head held high because you feel that there is something within you so important that you feel it shouldn't be destroyed so easily, you are something called a hero

[kaciearmstrong]

"Who are these people?"

These people are humans that feel so unimportant to the world that they remove themselves from it. So don't talk us down

[ojoabiodunsaiki]

99% of sucide are caused by human to human relationship. Bully, financial distress and nobody to help, rejection by boyfriend or fiance to mention a few. Majority of people who engage in bullying others will come online to comments that the victim are not emotionally strong. Always think about other when you act.

[ZetaMoolah]

Those who call suicidal people "weak" are the same kind of people who helped spur their psychological distress. Empathy plz

[serenity]

Coming from someone who is suicidal, society is what makes us want to kill ourselves. Whether it's financial or social issues we are compelled to end our lives because we feel that we don't meet the expectations that people expect us to be. We feel like we're never good enough because our whole life was someone telling me what I could be and what they want from me, when I can't exceed those expectations I go under extreme stress and feel like I've only ever let people down.

[moonwolf]

I didn't chose my life yet people expect me to want it.

[reviewrustyitalianasscrack]

Iam tired of fighting, i just wanna sleep and never wake up ive seen enough already

[amyperry]

People commit suicide because sometimes it's the only way out. I have felt extreme emotional pain in my life, which sometimes can feel like a burning hole in your heart, that hurts physically too. I sometimes experience periods of time where something bad happens and I just feel so lost, and hopeless, and horrid, and I can't eat or sleep or have a minute of peace in my head. For some people this is every day, and it must be terrible.

[jamescadwell]

The people who are dead are the lucky ones, they don't have to suffer anymore. They never have to feel pain again. No one cares about you or me. It's a cruel world not worth living in. I might as well end it now.

[kwin]

I like how you say it's "brief" because I've had depression and anxiety for 7 years and it's only been getting worse

[indridcold]

I fully understand why someone would take their own life. They did not ask to exist in this hateful cesspool of oppression. They were forced here by the selfishness of others. Nobody ever asked anybody if they wanted to exist. They are just drafted and forced here. Suicide solves all problems. We all return to the blissful nonexistence from which we came. Nobody has realistically ever complained about when they were nothing. I look forward to the return to nothingness. I never had a single complaint about when I was nothing.

[ssmith]

Laci, stop smiling. Suicide isn't funny.

[sismissasa]

ive fucked up in life.. i have no future and the worst part is that its my fault. Death is the only escape

[hehcoolio]

Why is she smiling and laughing? This is supposed to be serious.

[tennoklark]

Life is nothing but a construct of pain, evil and suffering.