Alternatives To Suicide (Ebook)

When we ask why people die by suicide, we tend to focus on death. We respond by beginning to try to predict the occurrence of death by suicide, and once we have identified these risk factors we may then try to develop
preventive strategies that address the relevant issues. For example, we may have noted that suffocation by inhalation of town gas was a common method of suicide and then we might seek ways to limit access to this means.

In other words, we adopt a risk-management and mitigation approach. Before considering the limitation of this approach, it is necessary to note that risk management has potentially live saving benefits. First, certain factors predict increased risk, and so it behooves us to monitor and manage them. Second, risk mitigation has demonstrated positive outcomes.

Thus, risk mitigation and management is
necessary and valuable. Nonetheless, asking the question “why do people die by suicide?”
places the focus on death. When a particular means of suicide is controlled, it does not mean that suicide is no longer a problem. People will choose alternative methods. The changing strategies highlights that suicide is a
motivational problem; some people are motivated to initiate their own deaths.