Archive Report
Archive Report
Suicide as Problem of Public Health
Gravity of Suicide Problem in United States
At least 20,000 Americans will take their own lives in the next 12 months, and 100,000 to 200,000 others will make serious but unsuccessful attempts to do so. Louis I. Dublin, medical statistician, has estimated that possibly as many as two million individuals now living in the United States have tried at some time to commit suicide.1 Despite this shocking state of affairs, there is widespread apathy about the problem, both on the part of the public and within the medical profession. Because the facts about suicide—its prevalence and the possibilities of cutting down its toll—are not well known, experts on the subject are trying to spread this message: The great majority of ...