Seniors Most Likely to Commit Suicide: Psychiatrist (Taiwan)

Seniors Most Likely to Commit Suicide: Psychiatrist The China Post
February 26, 2008
Taiwan

The suicide rate among the country's senior citizens is high relative to the rest of the population and they are more determined to take their own lives, a psychiatrist said in Tainan City yesterday. Dr. Lin Chung-yi, director of the Psychiatry Department of Tainan City Hospital, said of the 4,406 people who took their own lives in 2006, 884, or 20 percent, were senior citizens aged 65 and above. The number is quite high considering that the elderly only account for 10 percent of the population, Lin said. Citing statistics compiled by the government, Lin said the two age brackets at highest risk for suicide are those aged between 25 and 44, and senior citizens, especially those aged above 85. One of the factors contributing to the higher suicide rate among senior citizens is their 25 percent rate of success in taking their own lives, alarmingly high compared to the 5 percent success rate for all age brackets and 0.5 percent for people aged 24 and below, Lin said. Seniors who commit suicide "often resort to drastic means which result in a much higher rate of success than people attempting suicide in other age groups," according to Lin.


Source: thechinapost