Every year, suicide claims around eight hundred thousand people globally. The issue is particularly more prevalent and thus acute in the United States where suicide claims twice as many people as homicide. Suicide kills more people than automobile accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the number of fatalities from car crashes in 2009 was 33,883 — down from 37,423 in 2008. In 2009, there were 36,909 suicides in the U.S., according to the CDC — up from 36,035 in 2008.
Despite the success achieved by the efforts aimed at the prevention of suicide the issue has managed to prevail and escalate. The endeavors aimed at the curbing of the high suicide rates have managed to attain considerable success in recognizing the contributions of the individuals that have lived through the experience.However, these endeavors have failed to overcome its own fear of engaging the individuals that have attempted suicide in recovery. This aspect has led to the hampering of the endeavors for preventing suicide and ensuring the improvement of the systems that aid the process of recovery. The victims of failed suicide attempts incorporate widespread description as unstable and fragile, which implies that they need protection mainly from themselves. In most cases, the protection adopts the form of silence.
For the majority of the victims that survive suicide attempts, the silence sends the clear message not to discuss the suicide attempt. This aspect leaves the victims largely isolated, lonely, angry, and afraid. According to the experiences of the victims reveal that the attempts can be prevented. Additionally, the victims that manage to have a significant potential of recovering fully from the experience. Silence tends to send the wrong message, which runs counter to the already existing knowledge concerning the prevention of suicide.
The conventional knowledge in this context is that people should be free as opposed to afraid to seek help in scenarios involving the experiencing of suicidal crises. Both professionals and lay people should be free to ask directly friends, family members, and clients among others for help concerning suicidal thoughts. There is an urgent need for believing in the commonly promoted messages of recovery and hope. Ensuring the prevention of suicide and the protection of recovering victims of failed suicide attempts requires the engagement of the people that have lived through the experience. Only through this engagement can professionals and lay people alike formulate an enhanced understanding of the ways through which to prevent the spiraling rates of suicide.
Additionally, engagement can play a huge role in aiding the individuals that have attempted suicide to successfully find hope and rekindle the desire to recover and live happily. The realm of suicide prevention faces the urgent responsibility of engaging the individuals with lived experiences. The logic in this context is that their experience extends beyond risk towards recovery. Therefore, learning from these experiences can play a huge role in helping the prevention of suicide attempts and the recovery of other victims.
