2024-05-06 10:08:57
There are 10,000 suicides per year in Germany. The federal government now wants to try to reduce the number of suicides through better prevention.
The federal government wants to try to reduce the number of suicides in Germany through better prevention. This emerges from the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, which Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) presented on Thursday in Berlin. “We have to overcome the social taboo of death and suicide, free mental illnesses from their stigma and better bundle offers of help,” emphasized Lauterbach.
“The number of suicides in Germany has not decreased for a good 20 years,” warned Lauterbach. “Around 10,000 people commit suicide every year in Germany,” he added, referring to figures from the German Society for Suicide Prevention (DGS). The new suicide prevention strategy should “provide more targeted help and prevention.” One instrument for this should be “the establishment of a central, nationwide coordination office”.
Offers of help and prevention should be expanded
The strategy is based on recommendations from science, politics and practice. According to the Ministry of Health, it is intended to inform affected people, their relatives and specialists about suicide via a nationwide website and point them to offers of help and prevention. An educational campaign on mental illnesses is also planned in order to destigmatize them, as well as on the topics of dying and death, which are also often taboo.
For this purpose, a central crisis service emergency number and an online consultation service should also be set up. Healthcare and nursing professionals should be given greater awareness of the topic and how to deal with people at risk through training. This should put them in a better position to refer those affected to further help or therapy if necessary.
Expand “method-limiting” measures
In addition, according to the Ministry of Health, scientists recommend that “method-limiting” measures be significantly expanded. This involves, for example, access restrictions to means and places for a suicide attempt. The establishment of a pseudonymized suicide register should also be examined – among other things, to make it easier to identify risk groups.
According to the DGS, more people die by suicide in Germany every year than by traffic accidents, acts of violence, illegal drugs and AIDS combined. Society assumes that the number of suicide attempts is around 20 times higher than the number of registered suicides.