https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-suicides-in-canada-fell-32-per-cent-in-first-year-of-pandemic-compared/Despite isolating lockdowns and a sharp rise in unemployment, suicides fell by 32 per cent in the first year of the pandemic compared with the year before it, according to a new report.
This is the lowest suicide mortality rate in Canada in more than a decade, says the study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
“It’s a remarkable finding, that during this awful time, we saw a decrease,” said the report’s lead author, Roger McIntyre, a University of Toronto professor of psychiatry and pharmacology.
“This tells us there are things that we can do,” Dr. McIntyre said. “We don’t need to accept suicide rates, we need to rethink how we’re approaching this from a policy perspective.”
Dr. McIntyre and his co-authors credited government-funded financial benefits and an increase in mental-health support with creating a sense of security in this country.
Government provisions deployed early in the pandemic softened the blow, the study authors say. Dr. McIntyre cited the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which offered employed people $2,000 a month for up to 28 weeks; the Canada Emergency Student Benefit, which provided $1,250 a month for 16 weeks, as well as provisions for small business, mortgage leniency for homeowners and eviction bans for renters.
Besides financial help, the report also noted a boost in regional funding for psychotherapy and counselling services, and 24/7 crisis lines.
The report noted that while mental distress and people’s thoughts about suicide rose, this did not translate into more deaths.
“Mental health has a relationship to suicide rate, but it’s not the be-all-end-all,” said Tyler Black, a Vancouver psychiatrist and suicidologist who was not involved in the current paper. “Many people who die of suicide … they’re having real-world problems, whether it’s relationship problems or financial problems or health problems.
