Every 40 seconds, the world loses someone to suicide – amounting to nearly 720,000 lives lives lost each year. The impact reaches far beyond these individuals. Each suicide sends shockwaves of grief and trauma through entire communities, increasing the risk of suicide among those left behind.
This phenomenon, known as “suicide contagion”, underscores the ripple effects of tragedy. While the term “contagion” is typically associated with infectious diseases, suicide behaves in an eerily similar way. It spreads through shared vulnerability, increasing the likelihood of suicidal thoughts or behaviors in others. Suicide contagion represents one of the most urgent yet least understood challenges in suicide prevention.
Why is suicide contagion so dangerous?
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If there is one factor that significantly increases your risk of suicide, it’s knowing someone who has died by suicide. Losing a friend or colleague to suicide doubles the risk of developing depression and increases the likelihood of attempting suicide by 80%. Among young people, the suicide of a peer can increase risk by as much as sixfold.
While those closest to the deceased are often most affected, suicide contagion can spread to those outside the immediate circle especially in high-profile suicides. For example, following Robin Williams’ death in 2014, the US saw a nearly 10% increase in suicides, resulting in 1,841 additional deaths. The suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain in 2018 triggered similar surges nationwide.
For every life lost, the ripple effects continue outward, often creating distinct suicide clusters, which account for as many as 5% of all suicides. Breaking this cycle is essential to preventing thousands of tragedies each year.
Why do communities struggle to break the cycle?
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Despite the evidence, suicide contagion is often misunderstood. Suicidality is typically framed as an individual problem stemming from personal mental health struggles. This narrow view leads to misplaced prevention efforts and allows the contagion to persist.
Most suicide prevention strategies focus on treating individuals in crisis. However, this reactive approach falls short. Research shows that suicide risk increases by as much as 400% in the days following hospital discharge. More critically, these strategies overlook the social and cultural factors that fuel suicide clusters. Consider the Poplar Grove Study, which sheds light on these dynamics. Between 2000 and 2015, this affluent, high-achieving community experienced 19 suicides, with eight occurring within just two years. The root cause? A culture of intense pressure and unattainable ideals. Teens felt they had to excel academically, socially, and in extracurriculars, with no room for failure. When some “model” students died by suicide, their peers were left feeling even more isolated and overwhelmed.
Rather than fostering open dialogue about mental health, the community defaulted to silence – reinforcing stigma and making suicide seem like the only way out for some. Like Poplar Grove, similar cycles of silence, pressure, and loss play out in communities across the US.
What can we do differently to stop the suicide pandemic?
Stopping the spread of suicide requires a fundamental shift in perspective, starting with conversation. Contrary to common misconceptions, talking about suicide doesn’t increase suicide risk. Silence, however, does. Ignoring losses within communities leaves those impacted feeling isolated, increasing the likelihood of more suicides.
Communities need to frame suicide as a preventable tragedy and promote healthier ways to cope. For high-risk environments like colleges, this means embedding support systems that include regular mental health check-ins, peer support networks, and easy access to therapeutic resources. These protective measures can help reshape narratives around coping, steering individuals away from viewing suicide as a solution.
Prevention efforts must also shift from reactive to proactive care. Reaching at-risk individuals before they reach a crisis point is critical – not only to save the individual, but to prevent the ripple effect that can trigger additional suicides. Early intervention programs using clinically validated, brief cognitive behavioral therapy are already reducing suicide attempts by 60% and deaths by 80%.With suicide rates surging by as much as 81% in some populations over the past two decades, the time to act is now. The challenge is big, but the opportunity to save lives is even greater. We can – and must– break the patterns that allow suicide clusters to take hold.
Photo: Wacharaphong, Getty Images
Neil Leibowitz MD, JD is a physician executive and the Chief Medical Officer at Vita Health, a telehealth company that provides complex care and in addressing the suicide epidemic. There, he oversees enterprise sales, account management and psychiatry. He was previously the Chief Medical Officer for Behavioral Health at Elevance/Carelon where he led Medical Affairs, the product team and care delivery team. His focus is on the intersection of technology and care delivery. Prior roles include Chief Medical Officer at Talkspace and Senior Medical Director at Optum. Neil has been part of teams that have grown companies leading to both public and private exits. He is currently on the board of VIP, a large Federally Qualified Health Center in NY. He received his BA from Johns Hopkins University, his MD from New York Medical College and his JD from New York University.
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