Depression Suicide: Does Depression And Suicide Go Together?

Suicide is referred as the act of killing oneself intentionally. It stems from severe depression, a condition that interferes with the mental physical and emotional sides of a person.

A vast majority of depression sufferers do not actually die from suicide, but depressed people do have a higher suicidal risk.  New records showed that 2% of depressed people who have been treated for depression in an outpatient scenario may die by way of suicide.  Four percent of those who received treatment for depression in an inpatient hospital setting may also die the same manner.  Those individuals who have attempted to commit suicide before are also prone to die by suicide later on.  Another study reports that 7% of men with a history of depression will end up killing themselves while only one percent of women with history of depression will do. 

Those individuals who have had mood disorders commit suicide.  The clinically depressed younger ones usually turn to substance abuse to kill themselves. 

The most frequent way of committing suicide is by the use of firearms, as it represents up to sixty percent of the total amount of suicides.  A study conducted in the National Institute of Mental Health showed that around 80 percent of white males commit suicide by shooting themselves.  This determines that a firearm should be removed from the home of someone who is believed to be at risk for suicide. 

The second most common way for men to commit suicide is by hanging whereof drug overdosing or self-poisoning is the second most common suicidal method for women. 

Besides depression, other risk factors for suicide may include: 

1.    Impulsivity.  There are some people who do things on a whim.  For example, if they have a gun in hand, they may just shoot themselves from an impulse reaction. 

2.    Traumatic life events.  The death of a loved one, financial rut or other misfortunes may induce a person to kill him or herself. 

3.    Suicidal history in the family.  There is something called “suicide contagion” and it happens when a person has been exposed often to suicides and suicidal attempts  

4.    Violence in the family.  If a person has been physically or sexually abused, he or she may turn to suicide as a way to put an end to their torment. 

5.    Alcohol and drug abuse.  An alcoholic or drug addict could reach a point when he will have no care for his life and will attempt to kill himself. 

Depression is a serious problem that has to be evacuated from a person in order to keep suicidal thoughts at bay.  If you a person is suicidal, he must seek professional treatment as soon as possible.  Normally, those who think of killing themselves are not even aware that they need help. 

Avoiding suicide is not an easy achievement either.  This is why at this stage the person should enroll in a broad and extensive suicide prevention program.  These programs should zero in on the treatment of depression and drug abuse.  Before they are launched to the public, they should be scientifically evaluated and tested first for efficiency and safety.  They should also be extensive and sufficiently complex in order for the effects to last a long term and ultimately eliminate all suicidal thoughts.  They should also be carried out based on the age, gender and culture of the suicidal patients. 

Depression and suicide do go together, but if a person works hard enough to battle depression, thoughts of suicide could be eliminated effectively.