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Abstract
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The unprecedented times due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic have struck humans worldwide and forced rapid changes that could never possibly be imagined. Unfortunately, the number of deaths due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and its many effects will be around for years. Both direct and indirect conditions will haunt our lives, at least in the near term.
Suicide, as a multifactorial phenomenon, is significantly influenced by events that destabilize some of the pillars of daily life, such as family bonds, job satisfaction, economic stability, recreational life and well-being, to name just a few. There is no doubt that suicide risk is one of the most tragic of the possible effects of the pandemic. We often refer to mental pain for a phenomenological understanding of the suicidal mind and the pandemic has certainly influenced the degree of sufferance among individuals, posing an additional burden to those already suffering.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the headlines were reporting an association between suicides and Covid-19, sometimes featuring frontline personnel who were at higher risk of suicide, especially at the beginning of this dramatic event. Then there was news of the pandemic associated with emerging economic difficulties and the consequences of social isolation and loneliness. Furthermore, testing positive for Covid-19 or fear of being infected/infecting a loved one was reported as a higher suicide risk. Lockdown measures forced families to share houses for weeks without interruption, possibly exacerbating existing conflicts. Alongside these impactful events was the traumatic experience of losing loved ones and the impotence with regard to infection and for not ritualize farewells. The literature also rapidly reported that quarantine had exerted a psychological impact on the population, along with a higher number of suicides.
Scholars argued that the pandemic could be the perfect storm for influencing suicides (Reger et al., 2020). The first wave of infection and lockdowns was in Spring, which is notorious for a peak in suicides; there was also the increasing role of economic problems for various commercial sectors that were totally and suddenly blocked. Furthermore, the fear of visiting hospitals could lead to neglect in physical care both for acute and chronic medical diseases. Suicide risk was emphasised by pointing to loneliness and social isolation (including the neurobiological correlates, e.g., Zalsman, 2020) due to social distancing, which was worsened by impairment in attending religious services, (a suicide protective factor). In this array of worries, scholars and stakeholders were also concerned about care restrictions for those with mental disorders...
Language: en |