The Narrative

The recent contents of this newsletter has specifically addressed the current opioid crisis and its interrelations with lethal means safety and suicide prevention. It has been well established that individuals who are engaged in substance abuse based on poor mental health and or suicidal ideation are more likely to die due to the heightened lethality of street bought drugs laced with fentanyl.

It is my aim in this entry to pull this story into even greater tandem, discussing in depth the relation between firearms (a much discussed topic within this newsletter) and overdoses in relation to suicide attempts and completion, shedding light on some statistics which highlight this relation.

Table one: Highest Suicide Deaths by Method

This table reveals the well established notion that firearms are the highest in lethality across all the lethal means of suicide. This is due to their speed, accessibility, and effectiveness in completion.

This risk of course only compounds when one adds the influences of substance abuse, as it has been preeminently established that there is a behavioral level of escapism which is brought on by underlying suicidality, promoting substance use which neuropsychologically creates increased levels of disinhibition, which inadvertently increases ones suicidality.

Table Two: Highest Suicide Attempts by Method

This table on the other hand reveals a novel element to this dynamic which fosters nuance in our analysis. We see that firearms are only the third highest in lethal means used in suicide attempts, compared to an overwhelming majority represented by overdose. This statistical representation on the surface confuses our preestablished notions of the dominance firearms hold in the conversation of lethal means safety and suicide prevention.

How can this be? It seems as though our line of reasoning concerning lethal means safety gets completely turned upside-down when these two statistics are juxtaposed to one another. On one hand we have this overwhelming body of data to show that firearms dominate the lethal means strata but on the other we are told it is overdose?

The Culmination

The distinction here lies in the fine print and when read properly, one statistical body heightens the the importance and weight of its contrary.

We have here a distinction between attempt and completion. Attempts of suicide may be abundantly larger by way of overdose, but due to the 90% lethality rate of firearms, completion rates are majority firearms. It is worth mentioning that attempts occur 15-20 times more frequently than completions of suicide, making the comparative weight of these figures disproportionate as well.

A demographic variable that may clear some of the turbidity surrounding this relationship is gender.

It is well established that suicidality is expressed differently between men versus women, being that men are far more likely to complete suicide and women far more likely to attempt suicide. It has been found that women attempt suicide 2-3 times more often than men, often resorting to lethal means with a lower lethality (such as overdose).

Men on the other hand are much less likely to attempt suicide but much more likely to complete suicide. This is due to the choice in lethal means with a much higher lethality (such as firearms).

In sum, we have what is deemed the gender paradox in suicide research, being that women overall express more suicidal behavior measured by the frequency of attempts, in juxtaposition to the higher mortality rate in males by way of suicide. This is thoroughly expressed in the two tables shown above: a disproportionately high level of suicide completion by way of firearms, paired with the gender demographic of males, in contrast with a disproportionately high level of suicide attempts by way of overdose, paired with the gender demographic of females.

Through this, it is important that with lethal means safety and suicide prevention efforts, we not only look at the means of completed suicides but so too the lethal means of attempted suicide, as both bodies of data drive and effect the other, making them both vital in suicidology as a whole.

Local Initiatives and Involvements

Mental Health and Suicide Prevention 2025 EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES IN MESA COUNTY Register Here!

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST): September 18-19, November 6-7 This two-day workshop(16 hours) helps participants learn how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, providing a skilled intervention, and developing a safety plan to keep someone alive.

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA): September 26, October 17, December 5 This eight (8) hour training teaches people how to recognize signs of mental health or substance use challenges in adults, how to offer and provide initial help, and how to guide a person toward appropriate care.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (Youth MHFA): August 29 This Six and half (6.5) hour training for adults who regularly interact with people ages 12-18. It introduces common mental health challenges, typical adolescent development, and plan for how to help in crisis and non-crisis situations

Soul Shop™: October 2 This 90-minute workshop equips faith community leaders and other people of faith to train their congregations to minister to those impacted by suicidal desperation.

If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal, call or text 988. The National Suicide Hotline is staffed around the clock with certified members of the American Association of Suicidology. Or the Crisis Text Line, text CO to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime. A live, trained Crisis Counselor receives the text and responds, all from a secure online platform.