Summary

• Suicide is the thirteenth leading cause of death worldwide, with about 1 million deaths every year due to self-inflicted violence.
• In people aged 15 to 44 years, self-inflicted injury is the fourth leading cause of death and the sixth leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, making suicide a significant public health concern.
• There are 5 components to suicide: ideation, intent, plan, access to lethal means, and history of past suicide attempts.
• Suicide risk management refers to the identification, assessment, and treatment of a person exhibiting suicidal behaviour (includes death by suicide, suicide attempt, and suicidal ideation).
• Key risk factors for suicide include previous suicide attempt, current suicidal plan or ideation, and history of mental illness (most commonly major depressive disorder and substance abuse).
• Effective treatment of mental disorder plays an important role in suicide prevention. Other important prevention strategies are suicide risk screening, mental health education for primary care physicians and gatekeepers, school-based interventions, means restriction, and media interventions.