Attempted Suicide

For every completed suicide, there are multiple non-fatal attempts. Statistics are not kept for suicide attempts and it is impossible to know the actual number for certain.

  • The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) suggests an overall figure of 25 attempts for each completed suicide.
  • The CDC also suggests that among young adults (ages 15-24) there are 100 to 200 non-fatal attempts for every suicide.
  • For adults ages 65 years and older, there are 4 attempts for every suicide. (Goldsmith et al, 2002)

Surveys of high school students are alarming because of the high number of students who report that they have considered suicide.

  • In 2005, 16.9% of U.S. high school students reported that they had seriously considered attempting suicide during the 12 months preceding the survey.
  • More than 8% of students reported that they had actually attempted suicide one or more times during the same period. (Eaton et al, 2006)
  • 2.3% of students reported making at least one suicide attempt in the previous 12 months that required medical attention. (Eaton et al, 2006)

Parasuicide is a clinical term which refers to potentially lethal suicide gestures, risky behavior likely to result in death, and unsuccessful suicide attempts.

The continuum of suicidal behavior: Gestures vs. Attempts

There are many types of suicidal behaviors … some more lethal than others. All should be taken seriously, as a failed attempt may lead to a completed suicide in the future. Nearly half of all suicides are preceded by an attempt at suicide that does not end in death. Those with a history of such attempts are 23 times more likely to eventually end their own lives than those without.

A suicidal gesture does not have death as a goal, but can serve as a dramatic way of alerting others to some type of ongoing distress suffered by the individual, a.k.a, “a cry for help.” Examples of suicidal gestures include cutting, where the cut is not deep enough to cause significant blood loss, or taking a non-lethal overdose of medication. (This differs from self-harm in that, in self-harm, the person’s primary intention is to relieve unbearable emotions by injuring himself.) Suicidal gestures are typically done to alert others of the seriousness of the individual’s pain and are usually treated as actual suicide attempts by hospital staff. Some suicidal gestures do end up becoming actual suicides, despite the individual not having the intention of dying.

Risky Behaviors such as speeding or disregarding traffic laws, or abusing drugs, are considered parasuicide when the person shows total disregard for whether the actions might result in his or her death. 

Those who attempt to harm themselves are, as a group, quite different from those who actually die from suicide; females attempt suicide more frequently than males, but males are 4 times more likely to die from suicide.

Unsuccessful suicide attempts may also result from miscalculations in the suicide plan (such as not taking enough pills to reach a lethal dose), intervention from others (e.g. hospitalization), or the suicidal person changing his or her mind during the process of a suicide attempt. These people are at high risk of attempting suicide again.  Regardless of the intention of the parasuicide, it is treated very seriously by the medical community, due to the risk of future suicide attempts by these individuals.