Mental Illness Suicide Incidence

Suicide represents a serious risk for people with mental illness.

• Each year at least six percent of the patient who are suffering from schizophrenia die because of suicide. Unfortunately it is the fist cause of premature death within the diagnosed population. Vast majority of the patients are male (75- 95%).
• Major depression is another cause of suicide. The estimated numbers are between 2-15 % of the people who are diagnosed with major depression. The risk of suicide is at the highest level among depressed people where the patients don’t see any future for themselves, people who have a family history of suicide.
• Patients who have personality disorders represent 25-50% of the diagnosed patients who have substance abuse or major depression.
• Among the patients who have bipolar disorders there is a 3-20% mortality rate because of the suicide.
• Patients who are suffering a combination of mental illnesses are also at a high risk. For example people who have depression and another mental illness
• It is found that undiagnosed, untreated patients with depression die from suicide.

Suicide is an important concern among people with mental illness. The risk of suicide: of the 30,000 Americans who commit suicide each year, 90% suffer from serious mental illness. About 50% of people with schizophrenia attempt suicide at least once in their lifetimes, and 10% to 15% die by suicide during a 2-year follow-up. For such patients, suicide may be viewed as an escape from their fear, isolation, and awareness of the depth and chronicity of their illness.