20 09 2020
It has been universally acknowledged that COVID-19 not only wreaked havoc on the world’s collective physical health, but also its mental health.
All media outlets are emphasizing the virus’s negative effects on people’s psyche and mental health in general, in order to raise awareness about its psychological aftermath.
However, despite the big scare that the media is conveying about people’s mental health, research has proven that COVID-19 reduced suicide rates in multiple countries.
While mental health remains a topic of concern, preliminary official statistics suggest that, despite the countless warnings, Germany’s suicide rate, for instance, has visibly decreased thanks to abiding by proper social distancing measures.
The country is usually faced with approximately 9,000 to 10,000 people committing suicide yearly, which makes the reduction of these numbers during the pandemic an interesting phenomenon.
The Augsburger Allgemeine, a major German regional daily newspaper, ran a survey of the seven German states that regularly update suicide statistics, and found that the suicide percentage had decreased by 20% since lockdown measures began, as opposed to the suicide percentage submitted pre-COVID-19.
Thomas Voigt, deputy chairman of the Deutsche Depressionsliga (German Depression League), a service that offers remote and online help for people with depression, told DW, “It’s hard to explain that in the absence of empirical research, but I can say that since the coronavirus crisis, the demand for online mental help services has dropped significantly; it is a paradox. But the low demand for online help doesn’t mean people haven’t been struggling in isolation. One explanation could be that you have to be active, in a certain way, to ask for help, and because there are many extra difficulties now, people are so overburdened that they don’t even manage that.”
It is worth noting that feelings of enforced isolation, anxiety, financial instability, and difficult access to therapy, can lead to dire consequences, namely suicide.
On a related note, the German fire brigade union explained to Business Insider that emergency responders were, in fact, dealing with more suicide cases and finding more suicide notes mentioning fears of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this is purely anecdotal evidence, it must be taken into serious consideration and be factored into the conversation on suicide.
Ulrich Hegerl, chairman of the German foundation Deutsche Depressionshilfe (DDH), stated that there needs to be a careful distinction between a general increase in anxiety, and being depressed and prone to suicide.
To back this statement’s validity, 3,545 people volunteered for a survey by the Hannover Medical School (MHH) during Germany’s most strict lockdown period; 50.9% said they felt more irritable and 29% felt prone to feelings of anger and aggression.
This paradox in the perceived magnitude of suicide versus the the reality of proven statistics highlights the need to conduct more research, in order to reach a definitive answer.
Also, this paradox manifests not only in Germany but in the United States as well; the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides in-depth details about America’s health situation, found that 45% of adults believed the pandemic had affected their mental health negatively, while 19% said it had had a “major impact”.
In addition to the said findings, the US Disaster Distress Helplines witnessed an increase in calls estimated by over 300%.
Doctors, however, emphasize that it would take a long time to be certain about whether or not the suicide rate is spiking in 2020.
Each death must be meticulously investigated to determine its cause.
Matthew Nock, a psychology professor at Harvard said, “It’s a natural experiment in a way. There’s not only an increase in anxiety, but the more important piece is social isolation.
We’ve never had anything like this, and we know social isolation is related to suicide.”
Yet again, the lines are blurred between anxiety, suicide, and their relationship to COVID-19 as a leading cause. Proving that the pandemic is causing the increase in suicides can be linked to those who have a history of managing episodes of self-destructive behaviour.
In other words, individuals who have a history of mental health issues are more prone to taking their own lives.
The number of these people can reach up to millions worldwide: they go through daily urges to fall victim to the world’s cruelties, big or small, and thus turn to isolation and suicide.
Lack of control over one’s anxiety can lead to dire consequences; in this vein, Dr. Makeda Jones, a New York psychiatrist, recounts the story of a colleague whose teenage daughter attempted to hang herself.
“For some people who have not learned the skills to cope, this pandemic makes them feel more vulnerable and out of control,” Dr. Jones said. “And those two things will make some want to seize back control and say, ‘I don’t want to die of this disease, I can do it on my own terms.’”
Of course, it is important to note that even though having a history of mental health issues can make an individual prone to suicide, generalizations must not be made.
As dangerous as the pandemic is made out to be, it is undeniable that it has been and continues to be a uniting factor for individuals from all walks of life.
With that being said, there are more factors to consider; namely, economic factors.
Since the start of the pandemic, a great number of Americans have lost their jobs, which pushed many mental health professionals to warn about the imminent dangers of the prolonged financial and personal strains forced upon people.
These stresses can, in fact, increase the risk of suicide. Dr. Marianne Goodman, a psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs, in the Bronx, said, “Once the longer-term economic impact is felt, I suspect, suicide will be rising.”
The dire consequences of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 are further confirmed by Dr. Mark Reger, a suicide prevention researcher and chief of psychology services at VA Puget Sound Health Care System.
According to an article published in JAMA Psychiatry, and led by Dr. Reger, “the potential for adverse outcomes on suicide risk is high”.
The unceasingly increasing unemployment rates, combined with feelings of isolation and despair create the “perfect storm” for high rates of suicide.
Vaile Wright, director of clinical research and quality for the American Psychological Association, said, “Compared with other traumatic events in the past, such as 9/11 or natural disasters, the coronavirus pandemic has a much broader impact across the country and has caused greater feelings of uncertainty, which increases a person’s anxiety.”
It is safe to conclude then that there is an undeniable link between COVID-19, mental health issues, economic issues, and suicide.
A conclusion that not only applies to Germany and America, but it also applies to Austria.
A survey published by the Danube University Krems in Austria found that a rise in the numbers of Austrians with “depressive symptoms” from around 4% to over 20%, and those with “fear symptoms” had gone up from around 5% to 19%.
Professor for Psychosomatic Medicine Christoph Pieh, who co-wrote the Krems study, believes the risk of suicide has increased in Austria, despite the different preliminary figures in neighbouring Germany.
He is also sceptical because there are always a high number of undocumented suicides.
He confirms that it is a fact that depressive symptoms have indeed increased.