The survey shows suicidal ideation and attempts have increased for the whole population, while also highlighting those particularly at risk, most notably those aged 25-34 who are most at risk of suicidal thoughts and most likely to attempt to take their own lives.
The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey makes for sobering reading. But anyone who works in the field of suicide prevention, or who has been personally impacted by suicide, won’t be surprised at the findings.
Suicide rates in the UK are at their highest for more than 20 years. The results of this survey show some of the factors contributing to this national crisis - and demonstrate key areas that the government, NHS and organisations like CALM must focus on to reverse the devastating rate of suicide in the UK.
Overall, reports of suicidal thoughts have increased across the population since 2014 when the last survey was published. 1 in 4 people now report having experienced suicidal thoughts in their lifetime, up from 1 in 5 ten years ago. These worrying increases are driven by younger people between ages of 16-34 who report the highest rates of suicidal ideation.
And, unfortunately, this rise is matched by an increase in suicide attempts. Since 2000, the number of people claiming to have made a suicide attempt in the past year doubled. 1 in 13 have now made a suicide attempt during their lifetime. That’s around 3.6 million adults living in England who at some point couldn’t see a reason to Stay.
Almost every demographic group in England saw an increase in suicidality since 2014. However, there are some groups that have shown a particularly worrying upward trend. The number of men aged 25-44 who have attempted suicide in the last year has tripled, while those aged 25-34 have seen a 70% increase in occurrence of suicidal thoughts, increasing from 6% to 10%.
The survey also highlights a key audience of concern - those aged between 25 and 34. This group had the highest overall rate of both suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts, with the number of people attempting suicide more than doubling since 2014.
The APMS also highlights areas where more intervention is crucial for real change to happen. Those from the most deprived areas, those that are unemployed, and those that experience problem debt are all at least twice as likely to attempt suicide. It’s clear there’s a link between suicidal ideation and financial stressors - it’s for organisations across those industries to take note and implement safeguarding and suicide prevention measures to create a safety net for those struggling.
Looking at the landscape in which the survey was conducted, living, working, and economic conditions have consistently fallen in standard since the previous APMS survey - driven by factors including the coronavirus pandemic, cost of living crisis, climate, and international conflicts. We can see from the results of the survey that this is disproportionately impacting young people and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This is shown in the troubling rise in prevalence of both common mental health conditions and suicidal ideation, behaviours, and self-harm.
It’s also worth noting that the increases highlighted in the survey are not simply a result of people being diagnosed more - the data shows people feel considerably worse and are under considerably more stress than in previous years.
On top of this, the data shows only half of those who attempted to end their lives sought help afterwards - meaning hundreds of thousands of people have navigated their lives after a suicide attempt with no support at all. More needs to be done to provide robust and appropriate support for survivors of suicide - especially because this group is at heightened risk of suicide.
The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey makes it clear that more people than ever are living miserably. It’s a call to arms to organisations and individuals across the UK to play their part in suicide prevention. While mental health literacy and conversation has progressed in the last decade, it’s clear large swathes of the population are unable to access the support they need. Particular focus needs to be given to those under 44. The three age groups that fall into this age range (16-24,25-34 and 35-44) show significant increased suicidality - indicating more needs to be done to support young people across the UK. We continue to urge the government to take these results, and those from the ONS, seriously, and provide more focus, funding and investment in practical suicide prevention and mental health services.
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