Citation

Onie S, Soemarsono A, Setyawan MA, Fuad B, Taufik K, Vina A, Nilam JF, Hudson JL. Lancet Psychiatry 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00177-3

PMID

37236219

Abstract

Religion has an important role in community perceptions of mental health and suicide, influencing stigma and help-seeking behaviours, government policy, and even the criminalisation of self-harm and suicide. Thus, religious leaders have the opportunity to address key barriers to improve individual and societal mental wellbeing. In 2022, representatives from more than 400 religions and belief systems practised in Indonesia convened to craft the world's first unified religious declaration on mental health and suicide for the Group of 20 (G20) leaders, called the Lombok Declaration. A religious approach to advocacy is not without precedent: in 1983, the Catholic Church revoked a long-standing ban on ecclesiastical funerals for individuals who died by suicide (canon 1184), responding to a deeper understanding of suicide. The Lombok Declaration was designed to be a global declaration, to be implemented first in Indonesia to capitalise on the country's G20 presidency in 2022. The English and Bahasa Indonesia versions of the declaration are available online. In this Comment, we briefly discuss the development and positive impact of the declaration.

Language: en