- The countries that have had increased mental illness or higher pressure on help lines have not had more suicides.
It may be that there is a greater concern, but it will not automatically lead to a wave of new suicides, says Christian Rück, professor of psychiatry at Karolinska Institutet.
Researchers and news media have speculated that the corona pandemic would lead to more suicides.
Fewer suicides
But according to figures from the National Board of Health and Welfare from last spring, suicides have decreased by 12 percent in women, and are slightly lower in men compared to last year.
To get an overview of how pandemics affect the suicide rate, Christian Rück has compared deaths from suicide and influenza between 1910 and 1978. He has thus investigated how many people committed suicide during the Spanish flu, the Asian and the Hong Kong flu.
The research has not yet been published in a scientific journal and is therefore not currently reviewed by other researchers.
- In 1918, however, 25,000 got the flu.
That year had the least number of suicides until now, says Christian Rück.
Protective factor
A study published in Psychiatry Research that examined suicide statistics from five years ago in the US state of Connecticut confirms the Swedish study.
When the state had the toughest restrictions in the spring, the number of suicides decreased by 13 percent.
There may even be a protective factor in pandemics.
- One can imagine that the disease becomes an external common enemy that mobilizes us all in the same direction and unites us.
It may be easier to be alone on Christmas Eve this year than last year because now you have to stay away, says Christian Rück.
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