ConceptQ10737· pop 197· linked from 7,835 articles

Suicide

Also known as self-murder, killed by self, self-killing, killing oneself, self-inflicted death, euthanasia

OverviewAI-generated

Suicide is a manner and cause of death, classified as a form of killing, autoaggression, tragedy, and voluntary euthanasia. It is considered part of a calamity and is distinct from erotic asphyxiation and line-of-duty death. The subject is studied by suicidology, with health specialties including psychiatry and psychology. It is handled, mitigated, or managed by suicide prevention efforts.

The topic has been described by sources such as The Catholic Encyclopedia, Pauly–Wissowa, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, and the Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. Its causes include human overpopulation, psychological stress, existential crisis, and frustration. The number of casualties is recorded as 800000. PubMed lists 138521 entries for the query "Suicide," and the subject is referenced by 7,835 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 22 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Within Vinony's link graph, Suicide is referenced by 7,835 other articles, and connects out to martyr, list of suicides and Augustine of Hippo.

It sits within the topics Causes of death, Medical emergencies and Suicide.

Its subject is documented across 158 Wikipedia language editions.

Wikipedia views (30d)

262,137 total

via Wikimedia Pageviews API

Key facts

Medical condition.name: Suicide
Medical condition.field: Psychiatry, clinical psychology, clinical social work
Medical condition.onset: 15–30 and 70+ years old
Medical condition.risks: Depression, previous attempts, bipolar disorder, autism, bereavement, breakups, divorce, loneliness, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, alcoholism, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, crises, financial problems, mental disorders, physical disorders, substance abuse
Medical condition.prevention: Limiting access to methods of suicide, treating mental disorders and substance misuse, careful media reporting about suicide, improving social and economic conditions, improving behavior of others
Medical condition.frequency: 12 per 100,000 per year
Medical condition.deaths: 793,000 / 1.5% of deaths (2016)
Medical condition.image: Édouard Manet - Le Suicidé (ca. 1877).jpg
Medical condition.caption: Le Suicidé by Édouard Manet,
Medical condition.image_size: 275px

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

138,521 papers

Dysregulation and Suicide in Children and Adolescents.ReviewChild and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America · 2021Benton TD, Muhrer E, Jones JD et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.chc.2020.10.008
Clinical predictors of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and suicide death in depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Riera-Serra P, Navarra-Ventura G, Castro A et al.DOI: 10.1007/s00406-023-01716-5
Suicide and suicidality in Iraq: a systematic review.Medicine, conflict, and survival · 2023Younis MS, Lafta RKDOI: 10.1080/13623699.2023.2170580
Suicide among migrants: a comprehensive narrative review of literature.ReviewInternational review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England) · 2024Spataro G, Ventriglio A, Signorelli MS et al.DOI: 10.1080/09540261.2024.2327389
Suicide risk factors across suicidal ideators, single suicide attempters, and multiple suicide attempters.Journal of psychiatric research · 2020Park CHK, Lee JW, Lee SY et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.08.018
A systematic review of psychosocial protective factors against suicide and suicidality among older adults.International psychogeriatrics · 2024Ki M, Lapierre S, Gim B et al.DOI: 10.1017/S104161022300443X
A Review Of Suicide In Boys.ReviewChild and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America · 2025Hajirnis A, Hunt JDOI: 10.1016/j.chc.2025.05.012
Suicide and suicidality in contemporary serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force personnel.ReviewThe Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2021Sadler N, Van Hooff M, Bryant RA et al.DOI: 10.1177/0004867421998751

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Instance of: cause of death
Subclass of: voluntary euthanasia
Part of: calamity
Image: A drug addict is going to commit suicide.jpg

Show 16 more facts

Commons category: Suicide
topic's main category: Category:Suicide
health specialty: psychology
topic has template: Template:Suicide sidebar
number of casualties: 800000
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
different from: line-of-duty death
ICPC 2 ID: P77
P8168: Pterygota
handled, mitigated, or managed by: suicide prevention
social media followers: 420698
hashtag: suicide
has cause: frustration
NCI Thesaurus ID: C3394
Stack Exchange tag: medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/tags/suicide
studied by: suicidology

Sources (8)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

50 sections

Contents

Definitions
Pathophysiology
Risk factors
Autism
Environmental exposures
Media
Medical conditions
Mental illness
Occupational factors
Previous attempts
Psychosocial factors
Rational <span class="anchor" id="Rational suicide"></span>
Self-harm
Sexual and gender variance
Substance misuse
Other factors
Prevention
Diet
Screening
Treatment of mental illness
Hospitalization
Psychotherapy
Antidepressants
Lithium
Other
Caring letters
Methods
Epidemiology
Sex and gender
Age
History
Society and culture
Legislation
Religious views
Christianity
Judaism
Islam
Hinduism
Jainism
Ainu
Philosophy
Adverse attitudes
Advocacy
Locations
Notable cases
Other species
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or academic difficulties), relationship problems (such as breakups or divorces), or harassment and bullying. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access to methods of suicide such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental disorders and substance abuse; careful media reporting about suicide; improving economic conditions; and psychotherapy, primarily dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Although crisis hotlines, like 988 in North America and 13 11 14 in Australia, are common resources, their effectiveness has not been well studied.

Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for about 1.5% of deaths. In a given year, this is roughly 12 per 100,000 people. Though suicides resulted in 828,000 deaths globally in 2015, up from 712,000 deaths in 1990, the age-standardized death rate decreased by 23.3%. By gender, suicide rates are generally higher among men than women, ranging from 1.5 times higher in the developing world to 3.5 times higher in the developed world; in the Western world, non-fatal suicide attempts are more common among young people and women. Suicide is generally most common among those over the age of 70; however, in certain countries, those aged between 15 and 30 are at the highest risk. Europe had the highest rates of suicide by region in 2015.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Suicide” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.