# Reducing or just redirecting suicide? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238 "2014-01-20T01:27:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/21 "2014-01-20T15:37:55Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > People who are in the grip of depression aren’t terribly motivated to put a lot of effort and planning into things, including their own deaths. And presumably a lot of people who might kill themselves go back and forth on the issue, which makes sustained planning even more difficult. > > And if you don’t have a gun and don’t live near a cliff/bridge without barriers, it isn’t actually that trivial to find a way to quickly off yourself that doesn’t require any set up, will be painless and is guaranteed not to simply leave you maimed. Stabbing/cutting hurts, throwing yourself off a house or smaller building might not kill you instantly on impact, poisons can be painful and require some knowledge of what your doing, hanging takes both set up and hurts, etc. Furthermore, if you drive over a likely bridge, or can see it from your house, it’s a daily reminder that you do have the ultimate option. I can see how driving over a bridge on the way home every single day means the very idea of a quick, easy suicide makes it into your mind in a way that no other option really does. And I think driving is an especially isolated and depressing time: you are often very alone with your thoughts and get stuck in bad loops. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/22 "2014-01-20T15:50:04Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Missed the edit window: [Another article about reducing suicide methods](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0), with more quotes from survivors about near-immediate regret. Thank you! I find that cite fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/23 "2014-01-20T17:02:46Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Similarly, restricting access to guns reduced suicide rates – or at least I think I’ve read that a few times. You very well may have read that, but it isn’t true. Japan has a far higher suicide rate than the US, despite having virtually no guns at all. The Japanese are simply more inventive about it. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/24 "2014-01-20T18:47:49Z")
**Flyer** Japan is culturally very different from the United States. In the U.S., comparing across states, gun ownership is closely linked to suicide risk. Not because gun owners are violent or depressive people, but because suicide attempts are much more likely to succeed. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/25 "2014-01-20T19:41:54Z")
If you want to learn more about the psychology and impact (pun very much not intended) of people who commit or try to commit suicide by jumping off bridges, I recommend watching [the excellent but sobering documentary “The Bridge,”](http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-bridge/) about the Golden Gate bridge and the astonishing number of people who have jumped off it. (The Golden Gate is the top destination for suicides-by-bridge… a dubious distinction but there you are.) WARNING: The documentarians placed a stationary camera and aimed it at the bridge for a period of… several weeks or months, I believe… and actually captured several jumpers in the act. If you are depressed already, this is a seriously disturbing thing to see (well, it’s disturbing even if you’re not depressed since you are watching people die) and could be a trigger. They also interview someone who keeps thinking about jumping and, eventually, does. At one point the camera shows a man walking back and forth along the bridge for several hours, obviously contemplating or gathering the nerve to do it. Finally he climbs over and falls. Heartbreaking. It’s a must-see film for anyone of a mind to understanding suicide, but also extremely sad and distressing. You might not even realize how distressing it is until you see it. The above link was to the film itself. If you just want to read about it rather than seeing it, [here’s an article about the controversy surrounding it](http://articles.latimes.com/2006/apr/28/local/me-bridge28), and [here’s the obligatory Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_(2006_documentary_film)). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/26 "2014-01-20T19:57:13Z")
NM–my comments were about the film _The Bridge_, but **choie** beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/27 "2014-01-21T00:17:06Z")
Stepping in front of high speed trains in Japan once became a popular and effective method of suicide, which was not practicable in the USA where few trains ran fast enough to do much harm to a person on the tracks. Such suicides invariably resulted in lengthy stoppages of the train, and consequent economic losses to the railroads, so they instituted a policy of holding the family of the suicide financially responsible for any costs incurred from the event. The had the desired result, as few suicides were willing to impose this financial burden on their families. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/28 "2014-01-21T01:59:36Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > People who are in the grip of depression aren’t terribly motivated to put a lot of effort and planning into things, including their own deaths. +This correction… “aren’t terribly _capable_ of putting in a lot of effort and planning” Paradoxically, people are more likely to be successful suicides as they come out of depression. Ever wonder what’s the thing with all these ‘attempted’ suicides? Depressed people have trouble just coping, of course they have trouble trying to kill themselves. And what’s the thing with people who call an ambulance after poisoning themself? Depression is marked by loss of judgement and even worse loss of sense of judgement: a person who can’t even work out which sock to put on first is not someone you want to depend on for life-or-death decisions. Take away: More depressed people would kill themselves if it was easier or more obvious, but they are just too depressed. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/29 "2014-01-21T04:01:48Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Note also the decision not to sell aspirin and similar OTC pain medications in large quantities anymore - . . . I have to ask where this is true. I’ve got a 500 count bottle of acetaminophen by my desk, and it came in a two pack from Costco. > [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Missed the edit window: [Another article about reducing suicide methods](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0), with more quotes from survivors about near-immediate regret. Wow. Good article. I had always heard that many jumpers drove over other bay bridges on their way to the Golden Gate, but I’d never realized how fixated they really were. Quote from the article: > [@](#): > > Seiden cited a particularly striking example of this, a young man he interviewed over the course of his Golden Gate research. The man was grabbed on the eastern promenade of the bridge after passers-by noticed him pacing and growing increasingly despondent. The reason? He had picked out a spot on the western promenade that he wanted to jump from, but separated by six lanes of traffic, he was afraid of getting hit by a car on his way there. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/30 "2014-01-21T08:49:14Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I have to ask where this is true. I’ve got a 500 count bottle of acetaminophen by my desk, and it came in a two pack from Costco. It’s true in the UK, which is where **Gyrate** is based. Not sure why he confused things by mentioning Tylenol. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/31 "2014-01-21T13:24:23Z")
Probably trying to translate into American English, since we confuse things further by calling it acetaminophen instead of paracetamol. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/32 "2014-01-21T14:37:07Z")
[QUOTE=Melbourne;17032472Ever wonder what’s the thing with all these ‘attempted’ suicides? Depressed people have trouble just coping, of course they have trouble trying to kill themselves. [/QUOTE] Well, I think to be fair we can ascribe failed attempts to more than just pure incompetence on the part of depressed people. I think there’s probably quite a bit of ambivalence leading to half-hearted attempts as well as intentionally not-succeeding ‘cries for help’; I wouldn’t call either of those incompetent. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/33 "2014-01-21T14:48:21Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > It’s true in the UK, which is where **Gyrate** is based. Not sure why he confused things by mentioning Tylenol. Sorry for the confusion - it was a reference to the OP: > [@Canadjun](#): > > At least a jumper is much more public than someone deciding “F! it! I’ll just swallow a bottle of Tylenol and go to bed!”. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/34 "2014-01-21T17:41:46Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I had always heard that many jumpers drove over other bay bridges on their way to the Golden Gate, but I’d never realized how fixated they really were. Quote from the article: That’s not too surprising. The other major bridges in the area (Bay Bridge, Richmond-San Rafael, San Mateo-Hayward) lack pedestrian walkways, although one could, in theory, just stop their car and jump off. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/35 "2014-01-21T18:56:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Sorry for the confusion - it was a reference to the OP: Of course it was. In quotes and everything. Any confusion on my part was entirely of my own making. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/36 "2014-01-22T18:10:12Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Probably trying to translate into American English, since we confuse things further by calling it acetaminophen instead of paracetamol. 😃 Good to know those are the same. > [@wevets](#): > > That’s not too surprising. The other major bridges in the area (Bay Bridge, Richmond-San Rafael, San Mateo-Hayward) lack pedestrian walkways, although one could, in theory, just stop their car and jump off. And a second thing I did not know. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/37 "2014-01-22T19:02:12Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Furthermore, if you drive over a likely bridge, or can see it from your house, it’s a daily reminder that you do have the ultimate option. I once Google street-viewed Peg Entwistle’s last address, 2428 N. Beachwood Drive, and there at the end of the street looms the HOLLYWOO(LAND) sign. She jumped off the H, the first letter she’d have approached. But further use of the sign has not occurred. And despondent people don’t make pilgrimages to Hawaii to leap into Kiluea. The scene has to be prominent, quotidian, and established in the common consciousness as the suicide place. The Golden Gate and Aurora\* bridges fit that bill. \*Jumpers at the Tacoma Narrows bridges _never_ come from Seattle. They may be at their lowest ebb, but they still have enough self-respect to stay above the Pierce County line. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/38 "2014-01-22T19:55:37Z")
At each end of the High-Level Bridge, how about placing boxes containing free bus tickets out of Edmonton. Would that help? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/39 "2014-01-22T20:10:41Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > That’s not too surprising. The other major bridges in the area (Bay Bridge, Richmond-San Rafael, San Mateo-Hayward) lack pedestrian walkways, although one could, in theory, just stop their car and jump off. The Dumbarton Bridge does have a pedestrian walkway. I’ve never heard of a suicide on it, though. It might be too low for people to be sure they’d die. I don’t recall the barrier being all that high. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238/40 "2014-01-22T20:14:57Z")
Even more interesting than bridges are gas ovens. From the Cracked article > [@](#): > > In the first half of the 20th century, ovens in England used to burn coal gas, which happened to be completely lethal in concentrated doses and was thus the preferred way to commit suicide. By the late 1950s, sticking your head in the oven accounted for nearly half of all suicides committed in England. By the early 1970s, these ovens had been phased out, so nobody was surprised to see coal gas fall out of the top ten British suicide methods (one of [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com)’s least popular recurring articles). So what did all of those suicidal people do instead? In a startling number of cases, they just went right on living. The suicide rate dropped by a third, and it never went back up. Sylvia Plath killed herself in this way. Ovens were omnipresent, always available, and private. Raising the difficulty factor clearly reduced the suicide rate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-or-just-redirecting-suicide/679238.md?page=3)