Aug 4, 2008 - 18:45

Young Swiss hold European record for gun suicide

Experts say there is a clear link between the number of guns in a country and the number of suicides (Keystone)

Almost half of all suicides by Swiss youngsters are committed using a gun, according to an international survey.

This is directly linked to liberal Swiss gun laws and the easy access to firearms, said researchers from the European Alliance Against Depression, whose study is published in the current edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders.

The research showed that 43.6 per cent of suicides in Switzerland committed by 15- to 24-year-old men involve guns. This is far ahead of Finland (28 per cent) and France (19.1 per cent), which were second and third. In neighbouring Germany, the figure was only five per cent.

In all, the researchers examined 15,000 suicides in 15 countries.

There are an estimated two million firearms in circulation in Switzerland, which has a population of 7.2 million.

Switzerland has an arms tradition going back hundreds of years and soldiers of the country's militia army must keep a rifle or handgun at home after their first training period. There are more than 150,000 active members of rifle clubs.

There are also very permissive laws for obtaining a firearm in Switzerland, whereby anyone can sell his own weapon to someone else, the study added.

Young people are a particularly high-risk group when it comes to suicides, Florian Irminger, coordinator for the Stop Suicide Association, told swissinfo.

"They often act impulsively when they lose control of themselves and the availability of a weapon at home facilitates this impulsiveness," he said.

Urs Hepp, a psychiatrist and suicide expert in the Aargau region, told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that youth who consider suicide do not necessarily want to die, but also do not want to live in their current situations.

He believes the transition for young people in Switzerland from adolescence to adulthood is a difficult time, putting them at risk.

"...they believe suicide is the only way out," Hepp said. "Often people realise very quickly that they are happy to continue living."

Fewer guns equals...

Reducing access to firearms in Switzerland would lead to fewer suicides, said Barbara Weil, from the Initiative for the Prevention of Suicide in Switzerland.

"We can prove that in other countries which have tightened their laws concerning the availability of guns, it also changed suicide rates considerably, such as in Canada, Australia and Britain," said Weil.

In Australia, the number of households with guns was halved from 20 to ten per cent during the 1980s and the percentage rate of gun suicides fell from 30 to 19 per cent.

Opponents say people wanting to kill themselves simply turn to other methods, but this is not true, said Irminger.

He pointed to Austria where the introduction of restrictive firearms legislation significantly decreased the rate and percentage of firearm suicides without leading to an increase in other suicide methods.

National prevention strategy

The number of suicides in Switzerland is currently around 1,400 a year, with 19.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants – above the European average.

Why is the rate so high for a country with one of the highest standards of living in the world?

"This is the only question we can't answer with a single straightforward answer," said Weil. "In each individual case there are always three to four factors that lead people to commit suicide."

But one major influential factor is that Switzerland has no national suicide prevention strategy, she added.

Switzerland is currently preparing a new federal law on health prevention and promotion for 2012 to allow the government to take action on fields of mental illness.

"Before then they don't have the legal basis to take action, like it's possible in HIV/Aids, addictions, alcohol and tobacco," said Weil.

"Some cantons are interested in prevention and are doing things, but there is no strategy at the national level," she added.

Irminger agreed that national objectives and a better coordination of cantonal efforts were needed.

"We don't understand the current approach to suicide prevention, which is outdated," he said. "The government presents suicide as a problem linked to schizophrenia or depression. But studies in other countries show that 40-60 per cent of cases are not connected to depression; we need to do campaigns focusing on suicide itself."

"For young people you need to talk about suicide, as there is a fascination at that age; you need to confront it and pass the message that it's problematic but you can find solutions."

swissinfo, Simon Bradley

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john motheral , United States, -

this article was interesting to me as my son killed himself when he was 23 years old.....he lacked only 7 days to graduate from college....it has been 22 years ago and we are still as baffled as we were 22 years ago..... i feel that had our house been gun free; this might not have happened.....yet we know of other parents of car wreck suicides that feel somehow they could have prevented it...... each country needs to teach suicide prevention any way it can.....it is the worst way to go....ie... to choose to die at such an early age...

Adam Smith , United Kingdom, -

This is quite clearly an attack on the right to bear arms. In the UK we currently have a debate about knife crime particularly in the Greater London area of the country. Most knife crime is a social economic problem taking away the knife is not going to solve the underlying social economic disparity. Likewise if a person, Swiss or any other nationality, is feeling suicidal then they are willing to commit the act of suicide, their method of committing the act, in this case the choice is mostly firearms, if denied will only lead them to choose an alternative method to reach their committed decision to commit an act of suicide.

Suzanne Suggs , Switzerland, -

Clearly something must be done, but I have grave concerns about deciding that a campaign about suicide is the answer before a better understanding of why Swiss youth are killing themselves. We need to talk with youth about this problem. What is going on - from their perspective? What do they think can be done to help?

Timothy Peters , United States, -

Naim asks a key question: What gain for society balances this yearly loss? I would submit that in time of war an armed populace is able to effectively defend the lives of its innocents of all ages. World War II presents a recent example of this wherein the effective defensive posture of Switzerland provided a deterrent from a Hitler-led invasion. The result is a larger number of saved lives than lost life due to suicide.

Timothy Peters , United States, -

Some questions for consideration by readers: To what degree the efforts of organizations within Switzerland such as Dignitas and EXIT contribute to the overall suicide rate of 19.1 deaths per 100,000 amongst the overall population? If the percent of suicides from guns for 15-24 year olds is 43.6%, within this same demographic what is the percentage of suicides from those who jump from bridges? If the removal of guns increases the usage of bridges, should all bridges be outlawed as well? If not, do bridges serve a certain utility that outweighs the the taking of life? What utility might guns serve that would outweigh the taking of life?

Keren , Switzerland, -

These two previous comments from Felix and Willy Williams are obviously from people who like to make quick, glib, and thoughtless comments about subjects that they know near nothing about. Switzerland is a marvelous, diverse, culturally interesting, and FUN place to live. Money is not the only thing that matters, and actually matters less than in the US and UK (I've lived in both) where money = social status and the classes hardly mix - not the case in Switzerland where public schooling is excellent and children of all socio-economic levels are elbow to elbow in the classrooms and are offered the same education and opportunities to succeed in their lives as people, bread-winners, and contributors to the world. The Swiss are polite and a bit reserved, and they do generally function at a high moral and ethical code and expect the same from others - though like in any country there are always exceptions. I think mostly everyone would agree that adolescence is a difficult time no matter where you live. I don't pretend to know the reason or the answer to the suicide rate - but I do think the problem cannot be explained by a couple two-liners to put-down an entire population!

Naim Matasci , Germany, -

There is some evidence that reducing the number of guns available reduces the number of suicides, especially among those of young people who "consider suicide [but] do not necessarily want to die". Even if the effect is small, these are saved human lives. So what can outbalance this gain for us as a society? What are we gaining from the deaths of these young people that we are not ready to give up? Opponents of gun regulation should tell us what's so precious and so important to be worth hundreds of human lives every year.

Vera Gottlieb , Germany, -

How about researching WHY young people feel the need to committ suicide.

AJ, United States, -

Why not say the following? "Although over 90% of Swiss men ages 15-24 have immediate access to a firearm, less than half of all of suicides in this group are committed with a firearm."

Uncle Lar, United States, -

And your point is? You seem to be trying to associate the availability of guns with the suicide rate. Sure they're used a lot, they are after all the most effective tool for the job, but take them all away and the serious suicide will just find another method. Think not? Then explain why Japan with practically no firearms in their society has a suicide rate twice that of the US which as we all know is awash in guns.

Andrew Dexter, Switzerland, -

I don't believe a new Swiss gun system would make a difference. Even if someone didn't have a gun, they will find other perhaps easier ways to kill themselves, knives, jump from a bridge etc.

Ernst Gloor, Switzerland, -

This sounds terrible however I would like to know the exact number of suicides in each country which has been used for this study before I would make a final comment

Felix , Ireland, -

Fortunately I have only worked there. If I had to live there I would kill myself too. Boring country, everyone ultra conservative - all that matters there is money.

Willy Williams , Switzerland, -

It's just a depressing place to live in. All the nice surprises, changes, and success in life are taken away for predictability.

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In brief

The high number of gun-related suicides in Switzerland hit the headlines in April 2006 when the husband of Corinne Rey-Bellet, a former women's ski champion, killed her and her brother with his army pistol and then shot himself.

There are about two million firearms in circulation in Switzerland.

Among those demanding tighter gun laws are Amnesty International, Ipsilon (the Initiative for the Prevention of Suicide in Switzerland) and the Swiss Society of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy.

Suicide

In 2000, around one million people killed themselves worldwide: a mortality rate of 16 per 100,000 people, or one death every 40 seconds.

The number of suicides in Switzerland is around 1,400 a year, with 19.1 deaths per 100,000. Suicide accounts for more deaths than car accidents, drugs and Aids combined.

The average suicide rate for 15-24 year-olds is 18.1 deaths per 100,000. The study average was 11.0 deaths per 100,000.

In the last 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years (both sexes); these figures do not include unsuccessful attempts which are up to 20 times more frequent than successful ones.

Traditionally suicide rates have been highest among the male elderly but rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of countries. (source: WHO)