Abstract
Objectives
To investigate whether help-negation (not accepting or accessing available helping resources) among suicidal people can also be found in a Swiss sample.
Methods
Data on 16,640 participants (aged 15 and older) from the Swiss Health Survey 2012 was analyzed. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to study the association between suicidality (categorized into “not at all”; “several days”; and “more than half of the days”) and currently being in treatment for depression (covariates: depression and socio-demographic variables).
Results
Less than 1/3 of the participants with the highest level of suicidality were currently in treatment (males: 27.0 %; females: 29.6 %). Participants who were experiencing suicidality for several days were more likely to be in treatment relative to non-suicidal people. However, people with the highest level of suicidality did not differ from the other two groups in regard to treatment frequency. Help-negation was particularly pronounced among males and young people (15–24-year olds).
Conclusions
The reluctance to seek professional help is problematic because treatment might reduce the risk of suicide.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for providing the data and information about suicide rates, Marilina Galati-Petrecca for answering questions in regard to the survey and Stefan Cvetkovski for his methodological input. Michelle Dey is supported by a fellowship (P2ZHP1_148710) from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
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Dey, M., Jorm, A.F. Reluctance to seek professional help among suicidal people: results from the Swiss Health Survey. Int J Public Health 61, 495–504 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0782-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0782-8