The number of American suicides fell by about 6% last year in the mid-1980s Coronavirus pandemic – the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data.
Death certificates keep coming in and the count may increase. But officials expect a substantial decline to continue, despite concerns that COVID-19 could lead to more suicides.
It is difficult to say exactly why suicide deaths fell so much, but one factor may be a phenomenon seen in the early stages of national wars and disasters, some experts suggested.
“There is a phase of heroism in all periods of disaster, in which we come together and express many messages of support because we are together,” said Dr. Christine Moutier, chief physician of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “You’ve seen it, at least in the early months of the pandemic.”
An increase in the availability of telecare services and other efforts to reverse the nation’s suicide problem may also have contributed, he said.
U.S. suicides steadily increased from the early 2000s until 2018, when the national suicide rate reached its highest level since 1941. The rate fell slightly in 2019. Experts credited a increased mental health testing and other suicide prevention efforts.
The figure fell further last year, to below 45,000, according to disease control and prevention centers in a recent report. It was the lowest number of suicide deaths in the United States since 2015.
Many worried that this progress would end when COVID-19 arrived.
The pandemic caused a wave of business closures. Millions of people were forced to stay home, many of them alone. In surveys, more Americans reported depression, anxiety, and drug and alcohol use. In addition to this dangerous mix, gun purchases increased by 85% in March 2020.
But last spring saw the most dramatic drop in suicides in the year, said CDC’s Farida Ahmad, lead author of a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association detailing the descent.
Suicide had been the nation’s tenth leading cause of death, but fell to 11th in 2020. This was mainly due to the arrival of COVID-19, which killed at least 345,000 Americans and became in the nation’s No. 3 killer. But the decline in suicide deaths also contributed to the fall in the ranking.
The CDC has not yet reported national suicide rates for 2020, nor has it provided a breakdown of suicides by state, age, or race and ethnicity.
Moutier is looking forward to seeing more data. For example, while suicides in general declined last year, it is possible that suicides by young people and young adults did not, he said.
He is optimistic because the recent falls will mark the beginning of a lasting trend. But he is also concerned that there may be a delayed effect on the mental health of many people as they overcome the initial threats of the pandemic but sink into the grief of the people and things they lost.
“There’s kind of an evolution of mental health discomfort,” he said. “We may see all the ramifications of this mental health pandemic” later.
If you or someone you know may be at risk for suicide, there is help. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text a crisis counselor at 741741, or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.