For many people, celebrating New Year’s Day can include reflecting on a life well lived or the opportunity to start over. But for some, the holiday may have dark undertones, according to a large recent study.
More than 700,000 suicide deaths were reported worldwide in 2019, accounting for about 1.3 percent of deaths that year, according to the World Health Organization. Consequently, the study authors wanted to better understand how suicide risk may vary depending on the day of the week or holidays. Multiple studies have evaluated these relationships in the past, but the findings were mixed or limited in their geographic scope, the authors said, so they analyzed more than 1.7 million suicides in 740 locations in 26 countries that occurred between 1971 and 2019. .
“We found that Mondays and New Year’s Day were associated with an increased risk of suicide in most countries,” said lead author Dr. Yoonhee Kim. of the study published October 23 in the journal The BMJ, in a press release. Mondays accounted for 15 to 18 percent of suicides, according to the report. “However, the risk at Christmas was generally less pronounced and varied by region,” he added.
“Other national holidays, besides New Year’s Day and Christmas, were generally associated with a lower risk of suicide,” said Kim, an associate professor of global environmental health at the University of Tokyo, but that was not the case for Central and South American countries. Additionally, men had a more pronounced risk of suicide on New Year’s Day.
The authors found that overall suicide rates were highest in South Korea, Japan, South Africa and Estonia, and lowest in the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico and Paraguay.
On weekends, suicide risk was lowest in many countries in North America, Asia, and Europe, but highest in Finland, South Africa, and countries in Central and South America.
Experts not involved in the research said that while the study contributes to important conversations about suicide prevention, the findings point to only a couple of many factors that form the larger web of what contributes to suicide risk. Then, experts contextualize the findings and share how you can cope or support someone else.
Possible links between vacations and suicide
The holidays can bring up various ideas about what life should be like, as well as increased stress, substance use and painful memories, said Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, senior vice president of research at the American Foundation for Cancer Prevention. Suicide, who was it We did not participate in the study.
Any increase on New Year’s Day and Mondays may also be due to the “broken promise effect theory,” the authors wrote, which posits that people may postpone suicide attempts until after the holidays and then “be prone to suicidal reactions when they encounter a problem. feeling of hopelessness in the face of a new cycle.”
However, the study has several shortcomings and caveats, limiting the degree of universality or practicality of the conclusions, some experts said.
For one thing, the research combines multiple holidays and data sources, but these sources are not all the same, Harkavy-Friedman said: Some countries have 20 to 40 years of data, while the findings for the United States, for example, are based on data from 2001 to 2006. That disparity is because, due to privacy concerns, the US National Center for Health Statistics has stopped providing the date of death in its public mortality documents since the 2010s, according to the study.
Second, the researchers focused on the relative risk of suicide, for example, looking at New Year’s Day relative to the two days before and three days after the holiday, Harkavy-Friedman said. That risk analysis is not as reliable or significant in size as absolute risk, he added, which would be based on a review of daily suicides throughout the year and therefore offer a truer and more complete picture.
The study also lacks sufficient data for rural areas, which are known to have higher rates of reported suicides, the authors said.
“While it’s important to look at national rates and have a national strategy for suicide prevention, when it comes to actually preventing suicide, you have to look at the smaller units of communities, because different communities need different things,” Harkavy said. . -Friedman said.
The results may also reflect the known tendency for many people to feel generally less optimistic during the winter months due to seasonal affective disorder, Dr. Dan Romer, a psychologist and research director at the Annenberg Center for Public Policy, said by email. University of Pennsylvania. . Romer was not involved in the study.
Knowing these details about New Year’s Day and Mondays may be more helpful to public health officials (especially those who work helplines) than to people who need care or those who want to help them, said Dr. Ken Duckworth. , medical director of the National Alliance. on mental illness and author of “You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health, with Expert Advice and Wisdom from Real People and Families.”
Duckworth was not involved in the investigation.
How to cope with or support another person
If you are suicidal this holiday season, you may have a mental health condition that requires self-care and professional help, Harkavy-Friedman said. Social support is important, especially to combat loneliness, but avoid spending time with people who make you feel worse, she recommended. Also be sure to get enough sleep, hydrate, eat nutritious foods, abstain from substance abuse, and keep your body moving.
Having a religious faith, spirituality or a strong sense of purpose in life can provide hope and resilience, said Dr. Urszula Klich, an Atlanta-based health psychologist and president of the Southeastern Association for Clinical Neuroscience and Biofeedback. Klich was not involved in the study.
“If you’re worried about someone, take action,” Harkavy-Friedman said. “Don’t wait for holidays, birthdays or special occasions – sign up right away. … It’s really about learning the risk factors for suicide, the warning signs, and finding out… how they’re doing and if there are any changes in their thoughts and feelings during the holidays.”
Some of those risk factors and signs include the following:
- Comments about wanting to die (by suicide or otherwise) or lack of reasons to live
- Extreme mood swings
- Substance abuse
- Mental disorders such as depression or anxiety, schizophrenia, and personality disorders, especially when untreated.
- Family or personal history of suicide.
- Job or financial loss
- Relationship problems or loss
- Loss of interest in activities or school.
- Prolonged stress from other causes.
- Easy access to potentially fatal media
- Insufficient social support or feeling of isolation.
However, not all people who are considering suicide have these signs.
“Talking openly about suicide doesn’t raise the idea,” Klich said. “Instead, it opens the door to a conversation that can prevent a tragedy.”
