Global trends of suicidal thought, suicidal ideation, and self-harm during COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Abstract

Background Suicide is one of the leading causes of death. The current systematic review is done to know the trend of suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation, and self-harm during COVID-19 pandemic. Main text The search was done by using PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases. With the help of Mendeley portal, articles were retrieved on the basis of inclusion criteria like to know the risk factors, vulnerable group, complete article PDFs, prevention strategies, aims, results, and limitations. The shortlisted data from search was tabulated, and the PRISMA chart was framed based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Result Sixteen studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria were organized and selected. The variables and global scenario were considered in databases. It has been noticed that trends of suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation, and self-harm remains the same in some countries like Japan, whereas in some countries like Bangladesh and France, trends of suicides had increased during the pandemic period. The probable cause could be lockdown, social isolation, and stoppage of recreational activities. Conclusions The trends of suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm are more in vulnerable categories like health care professionals, university students, elderly individuals, and psychiatrically ill patients. In health care professional, it is due to the increased risk of contagion and watching deaths closely. In university students, it is due to the lack of recreational activities and social isolation. Among elderly, it is due to thinking themselves as overburden. The increase in suicidality in psychiatric ill patient admitted during COVID-19 pandemic is due to unknown cause.

Profiles of risk factors for depressive and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: A latent class analysis

“…Even though the young population is one of the least vulnerable groups to a COVID-19 infection from a medical perspective, they seem to be most affected by the pandemic on a psychological level. Several studies support this assumption as they found increased levels of depression and anxiety ( Varma et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2021 ), substance use ( Horigian et al, 2021 ), and suicidal ideation ( Shobhana & Raviraj, 2022 ) in young people and students during the pandemic. A reason for these findings could be that young people and students were drastically affected by the restrictions during the pandemic.…”

I did not scream. i could not; i was terrified. i just followed them. . .i blocked my mind. then they all raped me: A narrative inquiry on the onset of tonic immobility among women rape victims in Nigeria

“…Based on these findings, we recommend that health practitioners be encouraged to assess for suicide ideation during follow-up visits among all rape survivors, specifically those who reported to have experienced TI and show signs of self-loathing. It is therefore crucial that all rape victims who report to have experienced TI during their ordeal to be assessed for early identification of SI as a global public health concern (ICD 10-CM) and the second leading cause of death worldwide [ 98 , 99 ]. This is especially so in Nigeria, where a study recently reported that the pooled prevalence of suicidal ideation was 9.8% and pooled suicide attempts was 16.2% annually [ 100 ].…”

Trabalho em Saúde Mental Durante a COVID-19: Manejo de Pacientes com Risco

“…O que se argumenta é que o aumento de casos possivelmente pode se dar no desenrolar e até mesmo após o término das pandemias (Wasserman et al, 2020), o que torna importante que os profissionais da saúde estejam capacitados para o atendimento de novos casos. Outros estudos encontraram resultados contrários como estabilidade ou decréscimo em alguns subgrupos populacionais e elevação entre adolescentes e jovens, pessoas negras ou pardas, mulheres e idosos (Shobhana & Raviraj, 2022).…”

“…Apesar dos profissionais da saúde terem a percepção de que os casos de suicídio aumentaram durante a pandemia, evidências ainda são controversas sobre essa tendência em diferentes países e subgrupos populacionais (Pirkis et al, 2021;Shobhana, & Raviraj, 2022). No entanto, há uma estimativa de aumentos de casos após períodos de crise (Wasserman et al, 2020), demonstrando a necessidade de as organizações de saúde estarem atentas à capacitação desses profissionais de modo que se sintam melhor preparados para lidar com pacientes em risco.…”