Women and Suicide

Posted on June 27th, 2006 in Social Work.

I just finished reading the article Suicide Among Women: A Critical Review (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here if you need to download it). Here’s a little quiz for you based on statistics from the article.

 

1- Which of the following means of suicide is most common among women?

a- firearms
b- overdose
c- hanging
d- other methods

 

Answer: (a) Firearms. According to the authors, firearms have accounted for the most suicides among women for more than a decade. This contradicts what we’re often taught as clinicians, doesn’t it?

 

2- Elderly women and teenage girls have the highest suicide rates.

a- True
b- False

 

Answer: (b) False. According to the authors, data from the year 2000 indicate that the highest rate of female suicides occurred in women aged 45-54, followed closely by women aged 35-44.

 

Suicide Among Women: A Critical Review is a very good read. If you’re a social worker in the mental health field, I strongly recommend that you check it out.