Suicide is the cancer of the soul. How do suicidal thoughts work? Saša Kasal and Roksana Táborská.

Saša Kasal and Roksana Táborská from the National Institute of Mental Health

Suicide is the cancer of the soul. How do suicidal thoughts work?

• It changes with age: the younger a person is, the more at risk they are – people learn different techniques for coping with problems during their lives.

• It changes by gender: more men commit suicide, while women more often self-harm (worldwide, there are 3 to 4 male suicides for every female suicide).

• It spreads like contagion: if a suicide happens in one classroom, it is a risk factor for all classmates.

• The surroundings can make it worse; it is enough to say, for example, “You can't do this to me.”

13,000 suicides in one year – roughly 4 deaths a day. Those are the figures for 2022. March and April are the highest-risk months.

Is it because of computers now? Not at all. Numbers have steadily declined since the 1950s and 1960s. They have only started rising again since 2019. Why?

There is never just one cause: covid, bleak prospects for the future, social media, long waiting lists for psychologists, addictive substances, even genetic predisposition.

• What to do when someone confides in you about their intention to commit suicide?

• Will a psychologist drop you?

• Can the family be exonerated in any way?

We explored the stigma of suicide together with Saša Kasal and Roksana Táborská from the National Institute of Mental Health in our podcast.

We apologize to everyone for the lower clarity of the male voices. The original recording was heavily damaged, and what you are hearing is the result of a painstaking reconstruction.