Terrorism lowers suicide rate in UK

Telegraph:

British scientists analysed the suicide rate in England and Wales after the September 11th attacks in America and again after the July 7th bombings in London.

After both attacks the number of suicides dropped by 40 per cent.

Dr Emad Salib, consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer at Liverpool University, said any tragedy on a national scale such as a natural disaster, war or bombing brings society together in a common cause and this leads to the drop in suicides.

"There is greater social cohesion, the Blitz spirit," he said.

Dr Salib expected to find that the effect of the London bombings would be greater than the 9/11 attacks because it happened on British soil and was carried out by British bombers.

But the drop in suicides was the same as after 9/11 and in fact the effect did not last as long. After 9/11 the suicide rate in England and Wales remained low for four weeks, and it was the lowest September suicide rate for 25 years.

In contrast after 7/7 the suicide rate dropped for only two days. There was a similar drop after the attempted bombings on July 21st, 2005 as well, the research found.

...

My speculation is that people did not want to be associated with the human bombs and committing suicide would do that. They may also see a value to life as they see the outpouring of support for the victims. It is an interesting statistic.

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