Suicide In The Elderly Population

Some of the risk factors for suicide in elderly people are previous suicide attempts, alcohol or substance abuse, barriers to mental health care, feelings of isolation, and relational, social, work, or financial loss (McQueen, 2012). Older people are less resilient and more susceptible to the stress of loss as many coping mechanisms fail with age (Franks, 2012). While older adults continue to age, they may experience multiple losses, then stress, followed by depression, pain, and, finally they feel compelled to commit suicide (Franks, 2012).The impact of some of these risk factors could be reduced with interventions such as informing the general public what signs and symptoms to look for in people who are at risk for suicidal thoughts. This information could have been helpful to my family as it may have made us more aware of what my relatives were experiencing and provided us with resources to be able to get them the

The elderly population is increasing due to baby boomers. Depression in the older adult age 60 and over is becoming more prevalent. Many older adult men suffer in silence and try to hide their emotions for as long as possible. Men don’t like to talk about their feelings so the symptoms manifest in different ways. The suicide rate is four time more likely in older adult men and they are more likely to die from a suicide attempt than a women. (Pfizer, 2016)

Suicide was seen as a just way to die if one was faced with unendurable suffering - be it physical or emotional”. Throughout time, suicide has been viewed and dealt with in countless ways. Recently in America, the problem has grown increasingly. In the past decade, suicide rates have been on the incline; especially among men. According to the New York Times (2013), “From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent… The suicide rate for middle-aged men was 27.3 deaths per 100,000, while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000”. A 30 percent increase with an average of 19 more male suicides than female suicides is certainly an issue for both genders, and an epidemic for men. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (n.d.), found that in 2010, 38,364 suicides were reported, with 78.9% being men. The economic recession, unemployment, and various other factors are speculated to be responsible for this incline in male suicide. As of 2010, an estimated 30,308 men ended their own lives, and it seems as if there is a great risk of that number increasing each year.

Goldsmith, S.K., Pellmar, T.C., Kleinman, A.M., Bunney, W.E. (2002). Reducing Suicide: A National Imperative. (pp 331-374). National Academies Press.

There are not many people who are willing to dig deeper into understanding why a person attempts or thinks about committing suicide. There may be even fewer people who want to understand what is going on in that person’s brain as well, but Alexandre Dombrovski sought out to find and understand what goes on in a person’s brain who attempts and thinks about committing suicide. In the article, “Cognitive Performance in Suicidal Depressed Elderly: Preliminary Report” written by Alexandre Dombrovski, he studied depressed elderly patients who have had both suicidal attempts and thoughts in order to see if there is a difference in their cognitive functioning’s. To find the results of his study Dombrovski examined and tested 64 different patients who

The elderly population is the fastest growing population which also has the highest rate of suicide. These two growing incidences make the issue of late-life suicide a major health priority. Depression is one of the most common mental disorders that are experienced by the older adult, which has a strong association to suicide rate. Too often depression is under reported and older adults do not seek treatment for mental health problems. Assessing for risk factors for potential suicide in the elderly is a necessary part of proper health care. Suicide is 100% preventable and it is essential that patients obtain timely, appropriate interventions for deterrence of such a detrimental problem. The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationship between suicide contemplation in late-life and the patients’ physical health, disability, and social support (Turvey et al., 2002). The study provides further information about how late-life depression that in addition contributes to suicidal ideations (Turvey et al., 2002).

According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, older adults make up 12% of the United States population, but account for 18% of all suicide deaths. In 2002, the annual suicide rate for people over the age of 65, was over 15 per 100,000 individuals; this number increases for those age 75 to 84, with over 17 suicide deaths per every 100,000 (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2016). The rates of late-life suicide rises even higher for those over age 85. Although the statistics stated above are troubling, these numbers do not account for all suicides committed among this population. Late-life suicide is greatly under reported. Not counted are the “silent suicides” which includes death by overdose, self-starvation or dehydration, refusing medication or medical advice, and “accidents”. These deaths are not labelled as suicide even when the older adult’s intent was to die. Suicide among older Americans is an important public health problem, made all the more alarming because it can be prevented. There are ways of successfully treating or otherwise addressing the risk factors, like depression, that may be associated with this problem.

AJP (1997, November) Book Forum Suicide and Aging: International Perspectives. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2018, from

The issue about suicide, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide is a serious issue that should be addressed and told to every professional that are providing assistance to clients. Even though this type of training is discussed to individuals working within the human services and mental health profession, it should also be told to individuals that do not have a mental illness. Suicidal ideation and attempted suicide can present itself to any person at any age and ability. From my perspective, this type of issue should not be taken lightly, and not only informed to those working in the human services and mental health field. Suicide, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide should be explained to middle-school and high school students, agencies,

Environmental stressors associated with suicide include unemployment, poverty, family, or friendship stressors such as relationship conflict or break-up, and illness or death of loved ones. Some stressors have differential effects for men and women, such as unemployment (Ying & Chang, 2009). If suicide death in most of the world is strikingly male, the non-fatal suicidal behavior is predominantly female, although the gender difference is less dramatic (Nock, Borges, Bromet, Alonso, Angermeyer, Beautrais, & Gluzman, 2008).

Suicide is the second leading cause of death of people between the ages of 15-24 in Canada. Gender difference has become a known significance in the margin for suicide rates, being describe as the suicide paradox, with statics showing that while females are more likely to report suicide attempts, and suicidal

Whoops I already touched on this a little bit in our last post, so sorry group if I sound like a broken record.

The factors that associates with the likelihood of suicide in the elderly may involve: family history of suicide, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, medical issues, and pain (AFSP, 2014). Many of the relationships factors that the elderly have to deal with on a frequent basis can cause them to feel a sense of isolation, helplessness, and loneliness. Medical complications can lead to the elderly consideration of attempting suicide. They may feel that to lessen the burden on their family or even to end the pain that they may experience; the only way is to resort to suicide. Pain is a very difficult circumstance for elderly especially if it is a constant deterrent in limiting them psychologically, emotionally, and psychically. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2014) shows that a vast majority of people with psychological disorders may find that suicidal tendencies are high. For instance, in the study about suicidal tendencies, Runeson (2003) found that a family history of suicide is twice as high in occurrence. In other words, people are at a certain level predisposed to attempt suicide.

Certain factors will attribute to one’s risk of becoming suicidal. With each additional factor an individual becomes more at risk. The most common suicide risk factors include: depression, substance abuse, a personal or family history of suicide attempts, sexual orientation, stressful life events, and both physical and sexual abuse (Aldrich & Cerel, 2009). In addition, particular populations have proven to be at greater risk, such as, adolescents and young adults, elderly, those in high stress professions, people living alone or in select regions, and family members of suicide loss face a risk which twice as high as the general population (Draper et al., 2015). Other research studies have identified other at-risk populations, such as, individuals with psychiatric disorders, those with physical disorders, especially conditions associated with chronic pain, and patients with traumatic brain injuries (Suicide Risk Assessment Guide, n.d.).

Mental health issues such depression, anxiety is a health burden that negatively affects many people’s quality of life, especially older adults. In this Literature review we will use the terms older adults, elderly, baby boomer when referring to people ages 65 and older. “The rate of suicide in those aged 65 years and over has been increasing over the past three decades in most industrialized countries, with marked increases in both attempted suicides and death by suicide in the late 1980s” (Deuter, 2016). Older adults in the United States and many countries around the world die by suicide at elevated rates compared with younger adults (Conwell, and Van Orden, 2016). In addition to the age different, suicide seem to affect man and women differently with the baby boomer population. Men die more from suicide compare to women, even though females suicide attempt rate is higher (Heisel, 2006). Deuter reports that, in 2013, 7215 people aged 65 years and over died by suicide the USA, which accounts for 17.5% of the national total of suicide deaths (2016). The elevation of suicide in the elder is not only limited to the United States. According to Conwell (2013), the number of adults 65 year and older who died in the US is 6000 and 20,000 died worldwide, in 2010. The elderly population have become increasing prone to committing suicide and considered to be a population at risk. We will focus on the cause, challenges/controversy, and solutions that were used to address the issue of