In recent years, the number of suicides in China has soared, reaching about 250,000 every year. At the same time, at least 2.5 million to 3.5 million people attempt suicide every year.
* Depression leads to suicide *
Many suicides suffer from depression. China Daily reported that the survey of Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center showed that young people in China, especially those with college education, accounted for the largest proportion of patients with depression.
Jason, an associate professor of sociology at new york State University, said that American studies show that young people and educated people in the United States are prone to depression. It is understandable that this kind of thing happened in China. He said: "It is not surprising that this kind of thing happened in China. With the economic development and reform and opening up, western things have also come in. These young college students in China are different from us at that time. At that time, we were simple and single. Now it is diversified and there are more and more things. "
Associate Professor Jason belongs to the first batch of college students in China after the Cultural Revolution. He said that at that time, the pressure on their generation of college students was much less than now, and almost everyone had job security. Now it is completely different.
* China characteristics of suicide *
Previous studies by western scholars show that the total population of China accounts for one-fifth of the world's total population, but the number of suicides in China accounts for two-fifths of the world. China's suicide rate is two to three times the global average. The research conducted by western scholars in1late 1990s also found that the suicide phenomenon in China has some characteristics different from those in western countries.
China is the only country in the world where the number of women committing suicide is higher than that of men. In western countries, most suicides are men in urban areas, while in China, most suicides are women in rural areas. In addition, there is a strong correlation between suicide and mental depression in western countries, but the rate of depressive patients in China is only one-fifth to one-third of that in western countries.
* Today's social problems have aggravated suicide *
Arthur kleinman, a psychiatrist at Harvard University, believes that there may always be a high risk of suicide in China, but today's suicide in China seems to be related to social changes and long-standing unresolved social problems.
When China Daily reported on Friday that young people in China are prone to depression, it quoted Liu Hong, a Beijing psychiatrist, as saying, "At present, society is full of pressure and competition, so young people lack experience in coping with difficulties and are prone to depression."
* 220,000 people call the suicide prevention hotline *
China's high suicide rate has attracted more and more attention from the China government and the public. Since August 2003, China has set up a national toll-free hotline center for suicide prevention. Since then, more than 220,000 people have called the hotline. However, the China Journal quoted Fei Li Peng, the director of the hotline center and a Canadian psychiatrist, as saying: "Only one person in every 10 can get through the first call. This is very dangerous, because most callers are very anxious and may not be able to suppress the impulse to commit suicide. "
As far as the population of China is concerned, lung cancer is the leading cause of death. The air pollution in China and the number of smokers in China are among the best in the world. The second leading cause of death in China is traffic accidents.