Why have deaths by suicide declined during the pandemic?

A new study suggests there has been a decrease in the number of suicides during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the pandemic has put stress on people’s mental health, Dr. Simon Hatcher, a psychiatrist at the Ottawa Hospital and a scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, says the finding is surprising.

“At the beginning of the pandemic there were predictions that suicides would increase by 30 per cent, yet here we are in 2022 and suicides have not increased. If anything, they’ve probably decreased in Canada and many other countries around the world, which is a real paradox,” Hatcher told CTV News at Six.

Hatcher says there could be several reasons why this is happening.

“Maybe all of the original studies which had predicted an increase in mental health burden were really just looking at self-selected populations who were unwell and were more likely to fill in questionnaires anyway, so you get a false picture of the burden of mental health care,” he said.

Another factor, he said, could be that technology helped more people access mental health care. He also argued that people are resilient, even in the face of something as dramatic as the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t think we should necessarily be pathologizing a normal reaction to an abnormal situation,” he said. “I suspect there’s been some of that going on. Maybe what we’ve been seeing is falsely high predictions of the mental health burden in the community.”

One angle of Hatcher’s study will be the opioid epidemic. Statistics released last year showed a surge in fatal overdoses in Ontario during the pandemic.

“The number of opioid deaths due to overdoses has increased enormously over the pandemic and it could be that some of the suicide deaths have moved into the opioid deaths,” he said.

The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute said last summer that more study was needed on the relationship between COVID-19 and suicide. 

Mental health resources

The Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region has mental health support and resources available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can call 613-238-3311 anytime. You can also text 343-306-5550 to chat between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.

If you are in crisis, contact the Mental Health Crisis Line (24 hours a day/7 days a week) at 613-722-6914 or if outside Ottawa toll-free at 1-866-996-0991.

If you have a youth in crisis, contact the Youth Services 24/7 Crisis Line (24 hours a day/7 days a week) at 613-260-2360 of if outside Ottawa toll-free at 1-877-377-7775.

Youth and young adults aged five to 29 can also access Kids Help Phone 24 hours a day for confidential and anonymous care from professional counsellors. Call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868.

If you’re struggling with suicidal thoughts, Canada Suicide Prevention Service offers 24-hour bilingual support at 1-833-456-4566.