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Suicide Prevention: A Canadian Perspective

  • Chapter
Preventing Disease

Part of the book series: Frontiers of Primary Care ((PRIMARY))

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Abstract

Suicide in Canada,1 the Report of the National Task Force on Suicide in Canada, defines suicide as “intentional self-inflicted death” (p. 3). Suicide today is one of the leading causes of death among young people in Canada. It ranks second among males aged 15 to 19 years and third among females in the same age group.2,3 A nonfatal outcome of “intentional self-inflicted death” is described as attempted suicide or parasuicide and covers a variety of self-destructive behavior ranging from serious life-threatening acts to relatively minor gestures primarily aimed at attracting attention.4

The effectiveness of caregivers in preventing suicide turns out to be more a matter of speculation than of reliable scientific evidence. Therefore the following two contributions may serve as blueprints for research as much as for specific action. Readers may question why U.S. and Canadian viewpoints have been presented separately. For one thing, suicide rates vary significantly between countries and within national regions and population groups. Also, access to lethal weapons (gun control) differs significantly between Canada and the US—a fact which may have greater importance for the prevention of homicide than of suicide. Both countries share the need for early detection and treatment of depression as a step toward reducing suicide rates.

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Authors
  1. Jane McNamee
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  2. D. R. Offord
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children, Dalhousie University, B3J 3G9, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Richard B. Goldbloom M.D. (Professor of Pediatrics) (Professor of Pediatrics)

  2. The Cambridge Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 02139, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert S. Lawrence M.D. (Charles S. Davidson Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief of Medicine) (Charles S. Davidson Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief of Medicine)

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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McNamee, J., Offord, D.R. (1990). Suicide Prevention: A Canadian Perspective. In: Goldbloom, R.B., Lawrence, R.S. (eds) Preventing Disease. Frontiers of Primary Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3280-3_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3280-3_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7948-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-3280-3

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