Fear combined with isolation and unemployment would seem to be a near perfect catalyst for an increase in the suicide rate. Yet the limited evidence that exists suggests that there has not been a surge in suicides.
Two major national resources for suicide prevention, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line, said they have not experienced an increase in calls and texts concerning suicidal ideation.
It’s something of a surprise given earlier expectations and some local news reports. In early May, a report from the Well Being Trust predicted the pandemic could cause 75,000 more deaths due to alcohol, drug abuse, and suicide. More recently, Dr. Mike deBoisblanc of Walnut Creek, California, told an ABC affiliate that his hospital, John Muir Medical Center, had seen more suicides in the last month than in all of 2019.
“There is no evidence to suggest that suicide rates are increasing,” said Jerry Reed, a senior vice president at the Education Development Center.
The final word on whether suicides increased during the pandemic will be found in official data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it takes 18 to 24 months for the CDC to collect data on causes of death. Thus, data about suicides in the United States for 2020 won’t be released until 2022.
Reed, who has studied suicide throughout his career, noted that the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has seen an increase in the volume of calls since March but not in calls dealing with suicide. “What they are seeing is an increase in calls about fear, anxiety, depression, and loneliness,” he said. “So, they are actually seeing an increase in people who call looking for help on what to do rather than people calling in despair.”
It is thought that calls dealing with suicide should be increasing due to the rise in joblessness.
“We know for certain that unemployment is connected with suicide rates,” said Dan Reidenberg, executive director at Suicide Awareness/Voice of Education. “When unemployment rates increase, suicide rates increase.”
For example, the suicide rate fell every year in the five years prior to the Great Recession in 2008, according to data from the CDC. But as job losses mounted in 2008, it rose 2.7%.
Why that doesn’t seem to be occurring now is a mystery, as an estimated 41 million people in the U.S. have filed for unemployment benefits since March.
Reidenberg suggests that generous unemployment benefits might be deterring an increase in the suicide rate. “A number of those people who are unemployed are actually making the same or more [from unemployment benefits] than when they were working.”
It is also possible that many people feel that unemployment is temporary and that jobs will return once states reopen their economies.
“When people reach out to us, we try to ‘ground them in time,'” said Ashley Womble, head of communications and a counselor at the Crisis Text Line. “For example, we’ll work on them with a plan to get through the next day. We find that grounding a person in time is a very effective tool to deescalate that person’s crisis. So it makes sense that the feeling that [the pandemic] is temporary would have a positive impact on someone’s mental health.”
Womble said that prior to the pandemic, the Crisis Text Line was averaging 2,500 to 3,000 conversations with texters daily. In mid-March, that spiked to about 6,000 per day. It has leveled off since then, but it is still above normal. “This is the longest sustained volume spike we have ever had,” Womble said.
Like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, though, the Crisis Text Line has not seen an increase in suicidal ideation.
“We’ve seen three phases in this increased volume due to COVID,” said Womble.
The first phase was characterized by texters dealing with anxiety about being infected with the coronavirus or about elderly relatives being infected. The second phase occurred as stay-at-home orders took effect, and texters experienced depression brought on by feelings of isolation. During that phase, the Crisis Text Line also heard from many essential workers and their relatives worried about their safety. The third phase was characterized by grief and, interestingly, racism. Womble said they were hearing from many people who had lost a loved one and from Asian people who had experienced racism.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255. The Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting to 741741.
