36
votes
Accepted
Are gender dysphoric teenagers more likely to take their own lives if they are not allowed to transition?
A recent study found a high rate of suicidal ideation & a decrease in gender dysphoria in children & teenagers when treated with hormones - Psychiatric Co-Morbidities, Sexual Orientation, and ...
tim♦
- 50.5k
28
votes
Accepted
Were there more suicides than violent deaths worldwide in 2018?
The numbers are credible
The World Health Organisation homepage on Suicide data states:
Close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds.
The crude ...
- 11k
27
votes
Accepted
Have 41% of transgender people attempted suicide?
This number seems to come from here:
The prevalence of suicide attempts among respondents to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task ...
- 22.8k
24
votes
Accepted
Do "people who undergo gender transition" die by suicide at a rate "about 20 times higher than their peers"?
TL;DR: The "20 times higher" claim likely stems from Dhejne et al. (2011), who found this was true in the 1970s and 1980s, but not after 1989 (with the authors suggesting improved health ...
- 6,833
24
votes
Accepted
Have more US veterans taken their own life in the last six years than died in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Although exact numbers are hard to come by, there is clearly a higher rate of suicides among veterans than the general population and that number exceeds the number of combat deaths in Iraq missions ...
- 7,300
21
votes
Accepted
Does Apple install suicide prevention nets at their Chinese factories?
Foxconn did indeed install "suicide nets". And they worked. It's a well known fact that many people wanting to commit suicide are not thinking straight and can be stopped if anything interferes with ...
- 707
17
votes
Accepted
Did a suicidal woman talk a police officer into jumping with her?
This story is from the October 25, 1994 issue of the Weekly World News, page 2:
The Weekly World News had a reputation for posting outrageous stories made up from whole cloth.
While I cannot prove ...
- 728
15
votes
Accepted
Do animals commit suicide?
There is not enough scientific data to prove suicidal behavior in non-human animals.
Naturalists have not identified suicide in nonhuman species in field situations, despite intensive study of ...
- 2,856
14
votes
Did Alan Turing commit suicide, or is it possible his death was an accident?
Turing's death was ruled a suicide by the official inquest.
Several people, including Jack Copeland, have advanced the theory of an accidental death, including a proposed cause, and pointed out ...
- 54.2k
13
votes
Accepted
Asking about suicidal thoughts won't push someone into doing it
There does appear to be evidence that raising the subject in certain situations can have a beneficial impact.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140112-is-it-bad-to-talk-about-suicide
In an attempt ...
- 1,755
11
votes
Is there a Russian social media game called "Blue Whale" that incites self-violence and suicide?
I found a more in-depth article on theglobeandmail.com.
It takes a critical and researched approach over the issue, which is consistent to the type of answers needed in such cases.
Some highlights ...
- 211
11
votes
Do "people who undergo gender transition" die by suicide at a rate "about 20 times higher than their peers"?
There is a long-term study with that outcome: Long-term follow-up of transsexual persons undergoing sex reassignment surgery: cohort study in Sweden by Cecilia Dhejne et. al. The scientists followed ...
- 1,366
10
votes
Accepted
Have "government handouts" increased the suicide rate in Alaska?
The claim is not supported by the data nor experts
The claim is that "government handouts" are the single largest driver of suicide rates in Alaska. It's unclear what Young is referring to.
...
- 11.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Are discussions about suicide themselves suicide triggers?
Yes. Online forums are a trigger for suicide. Any online forum
Protecting Teens from the Spread of Suicide
Although we don’t usually think of suicide as contagious, one of the strongest predictors of ...
- 850
7
votes
Accepted
Did Near, a prominent emulator developer, take their own life?
I could not find any information that Near (also known as byuu) took their life that does not cite the Tweet by Hector Martin.
All news sources that I could find in both English and Japanese cited the ...
- 292
7
votes
Accepted
Did 304 US soldiers kill themselves in 2009 compared to 149 killed in Iraq?
Yes (almost), in 2009 302 US active duty military deaths were due to suicide, and on the same year 149 US soldiers were killed in Iraq.
According to a study of war-related deaths published by the ...
- 28.8k
6
votes
Is there a Russian social media game called "Blue Whale" that incites self-violence and suicide?
From what I could find it appears to be part urban legend, part social media game, part a teen fad that probably got blown out of proportion by more traditional media.
It appears that the game ...
- 6,972
6
votes
Are one-third of teen suicides homosexuals?
It might not be possible to answer this question. The 1/3 value might be accurate, but it isn't, and can't be, precise.
Psychology Today says:
Among youth who identify as sexual minorities, the ...
- 1,559
5
votes
Accepted
Are suicide rates among millenials increasing?
Suicide: Yes (New York Times, study), but not just millennials:
Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases ...
- 4,338
3
votes
Can hypnosis be a contributing factor to suicide?
According to HYPNOSIS: ETHICS AND RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES :
Focus upon one symptom can result in "symptom substitution". The hypnosis based treatment may appear to eliminate the original problem, ...
- 96.4k
2
votes
Stock Market Crash of 1929: Did Wall Street investors jump off buildings?
eight people jumped off buildings in [New York] city between the crash and the end of 1929
Quoting from My grandfather killed himself in the '29 crash', the title referring to a grandfather of Roger ...
- 96.4k
2
votes
Did 304 US soldiers kill themselves in 2009 compared to 149 killed in Iraq?
The Iraq KIA figures are supported by iCasualties.org, though I cannot determine what their sources are. A similar secondary source exists here, which provides data showing that 143 soldiers were ...
- 1,487
2
votes
Is suicide caused by or correlated with living at high altitude?
Yes, correlation between altitude and suicide is corroborated by studies outside the USA.
See High altitude remains associated with elevated suicide rates after adjusting for socioeconomic status: a ...
- 96.4k
2
votes
Do blue lights on railway platforms reduce suicide?
The claim that installation of blue streetlights in Japan caused a reduction in suicide rates is unproven by research since experts say there’s no conclusive evidence that blue lights will prevent ...
- 22.4k
1
vote
Can hypnosis be a contributing factor to suicide?
A summary of research in 2001 on negative consequences of hypnosis inappropriately or ineptly applied, Robb O Stanley and Graham D Burrows conclude that adverse effects can arise through the use of ...
- 22.4k
1
vote
Are discussions about suicide themselves suicide triggers?
According to the Freakonomics podcast there has been some research on the exact topic. The summary of this is that yes, media reports and books about suicide have proven to be and can be.
This ...
- 11
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible