On World Suicide Prevention Day, celebrated on 10 September, the postdoctoral researcher in the Public Health Area of the UIC Barcelona Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences assured that if it were possible to eliminate bullying in schools, suicide attempts by young people could be reduced by 22%. As Castellvi emphasised, this figure is considerable enough to be taken into account in prevention policies.
According to the study in which Pere Castellví participated, bullying is a behaviour that causes subjects who experience it to have mental health problems. Fortunately, more and more tools are available in schools to detect people at risk, as Castellví added.
In addition to bullying at school, the meta-analysis reveals that sexual abuse is among other leading causes of suicide attempts among young people, specifically 14.3%. The excessive and inappropriate exposure to social networks and the resulting lack of social interaction, difficulty accessing the labour market and its related problems are other reasons that can lead a young person to want to take their own life.
Likewise, the massive use of social networks can cause adolescent identity and personality development to be negatively affected because of reduced time and quality of social interactions. Moreover, the adolescent may be subjected to group pressure and online harassment that can be constant.
Regarding the risk factors involved in planning a suicide, the Public Health area researcher pointed out the following as pertinent: depression, anxiety or other mental disorders, drug or excessive alcohol use, family history, child abuse, bullying, living in a family with few resources or dropping out of school.
Castellví also pointed out that, although women attempt suicide twice as many times as men, the death rate in men doubles compared to women, because the lethality of their behaviour is much more severe.
However, despite these figures, there is increasing awareness of the importance of mental health and suicide prevention, as well as more tools for early detection and identification of people at risk of committing suicide.
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