According to the World Health Organization, suicide is one of the top 20 leading causes of death worldwide. As bleak as an image that this fact paints, zooming in on home does not get much better. Statistics Canada shows that more than 11 Canadians claim their lives every day.
Today, this issue is gaining increasing attention from researchers worldwide. The push is on to uncover the factors that contribute to a decreased risk of suicide. Early on, researchers realized that socioeconomic status was not one of these factors. In some cases, high GDP correlated to the highest suicide rates. The Scandinavian countries are a prime example, but even within the United States alone, this trend can be seen. Studies have suggested that Utah residents report the highest life satisfaction rates, but they also have the 9th highest suicide rates. On the other hand, New York is 45th in life satisfaction but has the lowest suicide rates. But at the same time, countries with extremely low GDPs like Guyana also ranked amongst the 10 countries with the highest suicide rates while Kuwait, with one of the highest GDP’s ranks at the very bottom.
The elusive factor in the pattern of suicide rates is one that researchers are striving to uncover. Studies are being conducted on several other possible factors in association with suicide. One of these is religion and its role in mental wellbeing. According to a growing number of studies, including one published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, religious affiliation is associated with significantly less suicidal behaviour such as suicide attempts in depressed patients. Even after controlling for socioeconomic status and ethnicity, the countries with the lowest rates of suicide also were the ones whose population rated as being more religious. In a study conducted by Professor Sascha Becker at the University of Warwick, it was shown that Catholic individuals in the 19th century when religion played a large role in Western society had significantly lower suicide rates as opposed to Protestant believers. Looking at the more recent times, countries whose populations predominantly follow Islam have some of the lowest rates of suicide in the world. Similar findings cans be found amongst the Catholic populations in the USA.
So what is it about religious affiliation that lowers the risk of suicide? There appears to be a triad of factors that work towards this lowered risk: religious affiliation and the two derived sub-factors of responsibility to family and moral objection. Those populations are affiliated with religious that are more collectivist as opposed to individualistic and where religious beliefs oppose the act of suicide itself are the ones with the lowest rates.
Knowing this may help to explain why the more secular individualistic countries of the 21st century also have the highest suicide rates. Success in these societies is measured individually and individuals are more isolated with less of a community to rely on. Religious affiliation, which researchers suggest helps provides a support system as well as acts as a deterrent, is also relatively low. Denmark ranks as the ‘happiest country’ based on its populations’ life satisfaction, but it also has the highest suicide rates at 83 suicides per 100,000 people. So is the happiness rate because all the ‘sad’ people committed suicide?
The question we have to ask is quite simple, are we moving to a point where individual success is worth more than life itself? And is that the right direction? It is a difficult question but must be answered if society stands any chance of saving the lives of countless people who have lost all hope.
Maryam Baksh is a member of the Vancouver Muslim community and is a student at University of British Columbia
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog Spiritually Speaking HERE
*This article was piblished in the print edition of the Times Colonist Saturday Feb 22.
