Gosh, I found that movie so depressing I just had to turn it off. I very rarely stop watching a movie halfway through.
I watched the film during a time in my life when I was very depressed. I noticed that the data they used to draw this conclusion was something like a survey of how many people had reattempted suicide. Prevention techniques were considered a success if the person ultimately did not kill themself.
On the flip side, I seem to remember one woman who noted a paradox that sometimes when people are treated and start to feel better, that's when they find the motivation to actually carry out a suicide plan. As I recall she sort of calls into question whether the treatment is actually a good idea if it will lead to that outcome.
What I noticed (and felt quite bitter about at the time) is that everyone seemed to be focused almost entirely on their own goals (avoiding the anguish of their loved one dying) and somewhat oblivious to the goals of their suffering friend or family member (escaping the anguish they likely feel all or most of the time).
The metric for success should be not "did this person ultimately avoid dying" but "did this person find a way to keep living without being in misery?" To show that you need to know more than just whether the person died or not.
I would agree with your metric for success. You're absolutely correct that the former (by itself) isn't sufficient. My point is that it's hard to accomplish the latter (sp?) without first accomplishing the former.
> On the flip side, I seem to remember one woman who noted a paradox that sometimes when people are treated and start to feel better, that's when they find the motivation to actually carry out a suicide plan.
I'd be interested to see how many people who have contemplated suicide fall into the category you describe, as a percentage of the total group. I'd hope (perhaps a bit optimistically?) that they are in the minority. But I don't have data to make any claims one way or the other.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you're in a better place now.
I also read another study that looked at two similar bridges about a mile or so away from each other: 1 bridge was popular for suicides, and as such had guards put up. You'd think that those people would have just gone to the other bridge, but suicide rates declined in general. I can't find the source at the moment.
[0]: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/saves...
No, this is a myth. Clearly there are differences in suicidality. Some people self harm frequently and severely for years before dying. Other people experience "rapid onset despair" and make an attempt.
Recovery is possible for both groups. Most people who attempt suicide do not make another attempt.
There's probably some data in the English NCISH reports here: https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/ncish/
(Also, I'm not trying to police your language. Use whatever words you like. But if you're talking to suicide researchers you may want to avoid "sucessful" or "failed" suicide, and use "died by suicide" or "killed themselves" (both for the UK) or "completed suicide" for the US.)