What percentage of people who commit suicide convey their intentions beforehand?

Answer 1

It is not possible to answer your question with precision, if at all. You can understand this if you accept that suicide kills a person. Therefore it is NOT possible to say what the proportion of suicide deceased alerted others of their intentions to die by suicide. In a recent reputable research study, a very high number of people who died by suicide were found to have denied that they were feeling suicidal by their clinican when they visited their medical practitioner for the last time. Other research has found that a large proportion of people who died by suicide did indeed attempt or try to signal their suicidal intentions to another person/s but that very often this was not recogniseduntil after their death.

Although there are so-called 'signs of suicide' [e.g. manic depression/bipolar syndrome, verbal/written statements containing serious threats to the speaker's/writer's life, etc) evidenced by people at risk of suicide, only people trained and alert to these indicators can gently challenge persons who appear to be actively at risk. Almost invariably, a person who has decided to end their lives will deny this when asked by medics or family members. This is obvious: such a person is almost impossible 'to save from themselves' as it were. That does not mean that we should not all care about and try to care for those around us suffering psychache, i.e. unbearable pain - particularly if they have potential access to lethal methods - firearms, prescribed medications, proprietary poisons, etc. etc.

There are no exact global statistics in relation to frequency of suicide. Various extimates and league tables are published but comparisons between and within countries are unreliable. Hence it is difficult to estimate the proportion of suicide deceased who may have alerted others before their suicidal behaviours. Work in Northern Ireland by O'Connor et al estimated that in 1994 around 40 - 45% of suicide deceased had no known contact with medical/psychological support services (general practitioner, psychologist, psychiatrist, counsellor, mentor, etc etc). However, because in Ireland (1993)/UK (1961) suicide is no longer a criminal offence, police authorities take little interest where they - and the coroner, if consulted - determine that any death 'was not suspicious' ... meaning a death that they are reasonably cerytain was by suicide or from natural causes. The reason for this is obvious - no crime = no offender = no case. This explains why most support work - individual, family, community, national - in the aftermath of suicide, including research, is carried out by survivors of sucide, i.e. those left to mourn the loss by suicide of a loved one.

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It is a mistake to assume that 'signs of suicide' are clear and unambiguous.