Suicide is a world problem.

In 2016,  2,862 people died of Intentional self-harm (X60-X84) while according to the Bureau  of  Infrastructure,  Transport  and  Regional  Economics (BITRE),  2017, Road trauma Australia 2016 statistical summary, BITRE, Canberra ACT. 1,295 people died of road trauma.
More than twice as many people die of suicide than road trauma.
This week 28 more Australian males died from suicide than Australian females. 
Suicide contributes to more than 10% of all the Years of Potential Life Lost (YYPL) for all deaths and represents the single greatest sex ratio difference for the 20 leading causes of death for Australians. ABS 3303.0 - Causes of Death, Australia, 2016.
Males have a higher rate of death for 75% of all causes of death than females (including twice as many males killed by assault). More males die of most causes of death than females.
The World Health Organization provides valuable collections of information and analysis about suicide and some ideas about the way forward. 
The overwhelmingly obvious suicide statistic is that males kill themselves more often than females kill themselves in nearly every country. This fact seems to be largely ignored worldwide with very few support programs in place specifically for males. 
Most government’s strategies to reduce suicide have involved phone line support, education, publicity and limiting access to the means of killing.
Organizations like Beyondblue, Mindframe and Lifeline in Australia have done much to try to understand the issues around suicide and the findings on attempted suicide are consistent with other worldwide studies. Lifeline lists family and relationship issues as the major issue for calling.
Suicides rates are higher at old age but also in middle age groups as well.
High male suicide rates are between the ages of 30 and 54. This corresponds with the four highest age groups where first divorces occur. In 2016 there were 46,000 divorces (92,000 people) and around 20,000 family law cases (40,000 people) where 15,000 cases were for consent orders. 
There are slight variations in the concepts which affect the comparability of divorce and family court statistics. You do have to be married to get divorced but you don’t have to be married to go to family court or get child support.
Slightly less than half of relationship breakdowns end up in family court.
Issues around suicide are complex but the concepts can be modeled and discussed.

● Abuse – all forms, all scale from individual to government –physical, emotional, bullying, court processes, violence, discrimination, unjust treatment, human rights, etc.
● Relationship Issues – work, families, friends, schools, groups, etc
● Hopelessness – is the same as despair and finality – that stage where despite all best efforts there is a realization that nothing will change or get better.

There are strong directional influences of some concepts but some are more closely interrelated – abuse can lead to relationship issues or relationship issues can lead to abuse.
Abuse, Relationship issues, Mental Health issues and Chronic Pain and illness are all significant contributors to stress. 
Stress causes a whole lot of problems.
There are some categorization, definitional and situation issues around suicide. 
Killing people is a complex and difficult topic to discuss.
I don’t understand how anyone could consider mental health by itself as a cause of suicide. If someone is really mentally ill then it is not suicide – its accidental death based on mental illness. (as applies to murder). 
If someone is stressed to the point that they develop a substance abuse problem then should death from abuse of that substance be considered suicide or an accident?
Some murder cases are really cases of murder/suicide. “Justifiable Homicide”, “Self Defense”, “Suicide Bomber”, “the end justifies the means”. Ethical frameworks using this sort of thinking are similar to that used by extremists.
In Australia the “battered wife” defense has been used in premeditated murder cases by females claiming to have been abused (it is difficult for the dead to mount a defense). This dangerous thinking leads to the idea that premeditated killing of someone can be justified if they abused you or, more recently, you felt afraid. 
Ending a life based on issues associated with illness, old age and extreme disabilities is called euthanasia. Is assisted suicide murder?
Governments abuse individuals by starting wars, the death penalty, sanctioned torture (Guantanamo Bay), ignoring rights and protections, discrimination, ignoring issues and building abusive systems – e.g. Centrelink lack of support and long call wait times and other government procedural abuse.
WHO cites “ability to deal with life stresses” as a cause of suicide. 
A major rethink is required. 
Rather than treating suicide as a mental health issue, a substance abuse issue or a problem with people seeking counseling its time to look at root causes. 
Employment and opportunity, human rights, dignity and respect, fair treatment by police and court systems, education of individuals and improve government systems. 
Relationship education, mental health support, financial support, support for people with chronic pain and illness and reducing all forms of abuse would help reduce suicide rates.
There are many factors involved but it is clear from a country by country analysis that how a government treats its people is a significant factor in suicides.
Even if there is some question about the accuracy of the statistics and the methodology used for reporting suicides by each country, we now have several time periods to examine. The change in rankings is a good indicator.
Australia is improving in its treatment of suicide and that is reflected in the WHO statistics from 2000 to 2015 where the Australian male suicide rank has improved 19 places to 91 out of 183 while female ranking has gone backwards by 30 places to 72 out of 183 countries. 
The 2015 Australian male rate of suicide per 100,000 people was 15.3 (down from 20 in 2000) and the female rate was 5.6 (up from 5.2).
The rate for hospitalized injuries from road trauma was about 35,000 per year. This compares to an estimated 65,000 suicide attempts per year. Not all suicide attempts necessarily result in a hospital visit. 
Slightly more females than males are hospitalized as a result of a suicide attempts than males.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare AIHW (2016-2017 table 4.19) there were about 35,000 hospital admissions due to a principle diagnoses of intentional self-harm but this number could be higher if the patient did not disclose that they were attempting to kill themselves and some of the other causes from table 4.19 were included.
At least as many people (and probably much more) are hospitalized for attempted suicide as those who need hospital treatment for road trauma.
Road trauma is a complicated problem and billions of dollars have been spent over many decades on education, policy development, data collection, research, legislation, infrastructure, policing and technology.
We are losing too many people to suicide in the prime of their life. It is one of the biggest gender based issues affecting Australia and it is about time governments took responsibility for their contributions to suicide.
There has to be hope.
Jonathan Pearson	6/8/2018