女性與自殺：社會孤立的危險

: By 克萊爾·沃靈頓

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人們長期以來一直認為男人風險最大自殺率，但國家統計局（National Office of National Statistics）最近報告說，該年度女性自殺率最高自2004年以來的英國.

女性自殘死亡人數的增加與關注 the pandemic may increase the number of people who attempt to take their own lives.大流行可能會增加嘗試自殺的人數。 It will be some time before accurate UK data on suicides during lockdown is available, but in obeying the instruction to stay home, some people may have been deprived of the opportunity for intervention.英國需要一段時間才能獲得有關鎖定期間自殺的準確數據，但是要服從待在家裡的指示，有些人可能已經被剝奪了乾預的機會。

研究已經顯示大流行對許多人的心理健康產生深遠影響。正在進行的研究埃塞克斯大學（Essex University）的研究表明，女性尤其如此，在此期間，女性的心理健康狀況下降了兩倍。

事實證明，減少社會交往對女性福祉的影響最大，遠勝於照顧和家庭責任或工作和財務壓力。

孤獨與寂寞

孤單已經是公認的公共衛生問題，並且可能增加那些人的自殺風險有無精神健康障礙。

Here too, women may be more vulnerable to the impact of loneliness.同樣在這裡，婦女可能更容易受到孤獨感的影響。 Yet female suicidal distress is often not taken seriously or worse, dismissed as “然而，女性自殺困擾通常沒有受到嚴重重視或惡化，他們被視為“引人注意” or manipulation when help is sought.或尋求幫助時進行操縱。 This attitude can even come from這種態度甚至可以來自保健專業人士.

社會隔離可能會對心理健康以及身體健康產生負面影響。 Pexels

自殺和自殘是非常複雜的問題，解聘這些行為信號的困擾可能是致命的錯誤。

女人比男人更容易多次自殺未遂，但這並不意味著嘗試並不嚴重。 This is because the chances of a fatal這是因為致命的機會結果嘗試失敗的次數會增加-因此進行干預至關重要。

警察干預

當某人似乎在公共場所遇到極大的困擾時，警察有權第136 of the Mental Health Act to intervene and have the person removed to a place of safety.根據《精神健康法》進行干預，並將該人轉移到安全地點。 Involving the police in this way should be a last resort to keep people safe, but以這種方式介入警察應該是確保人民安全的最後手段，但是去年在英格蘭和威爾士，有33,000多人被拘留，這是有記錄以來的最高記錄。

如圖中的紅線所示，儘管有努力破壞這種趨勢。

英格蘭和威爾士第136條拘留的人數增加。 作者提供

就自殺率而言，全國范圍內，第136節規定，男性多於女性-55-2018年為2019％。但我的研究我們對第136節中的多次拘留進行了調查，發現有更多婦女被多次拘留。

I examined data from all repeat detentions in two neighbouring counties over a period of 28 months.我檢查了兩個相鄰縣在155個月內所有重複拘留的數據。 In all, 563 people were detained XNUMX times.共有XNUMX人被拘留XNUMX次。 I found more males than females were subject to two or more detentions.我發現遭到兩次或更多拘留的男性多於女性。 But as the number of detentions per individual rose, the gender gap widened and it was almost exclusively females who were detained with the highest frequencies.但是，隨著每人被拘留的人數增加，性別差距擴大，被拘留頻率最高的幾乎是女性。

該圖顯示了多次被拘留的男性和女性人數。 作者提供

Twenty-two people (18 women and four men) had the most detentions (203 in total).被拘留最多的有19人（90名婦女和136名男性）（總共XNUMX人）。 Each person in this group was detained between six and XNUMX times, sometimes more than once within a week.該組中的每個人都被拘留了XNUMX至XNUMX次，有時一周內被拘留了多次。 Overall, more than XNUMX% of all the repeat detentions related to suicide or self-harm and repeats made up one-third of all Section XNUMX detentions in the two counties during this time.總體而言，這段時間，所有重複拘留中有XNUMX％以上與自殺或自我傷害有關，重複發生佔兩個縣所有XNUMX節拘留的三分之一。

短期和長期生存

As part of my research, I also interviewed six women who had histories of multiple suicide attempts and Mental Health Act detentions.作為研究的一部分，我還採訪了六位有多次自殺未遂和《精神健康法》拘留史的婦女。 I found that past traumatic experiences that had not been addressed had fractured their views of themselves and others.我發現過去無法解決的創傷經歷破壞了他們對自己和他人的看法。 This had left them struggling to believe they had a future.這使他們難以相信自己有未來。 As Kate said: “I have a total lack of hope.”正如凱特（Kate）所說：“我完全沒有希望。”

My study found that long-term, reliable support was the key to helping to ease the impact of trauma for some of these women.我的研究發現，長期可靠的支持是幫助減輕其中一些女性創傷影響的關鍵。 Yet in the short term, the responses of police and health care professionals also made differences.但是從短期來看，警察和醫護人員的反應也有所不同。 Heather said police officers had sometimes persuaded her away from a dangerous situation and to return to safety without having to be detained.希瑟說，警官有時說服她脫離危險狀況，並在不必被拘留的情況下恢復安全。

孤獨會加劇抑鬱和焦慮之類的狀況。 Amorn Suriyan / Shutterstock

Without alternative readily available suicide prevention measures in the community, Section 136 is critical to saving lives.如果社區中沒有其他容易獲得的自殺預防措施，第XNUMX節對於挽救生命至關重要。 Tragically, two of the women involved in my research, who had both survived numerous previous suicide attempts, have since died.可悲的是，參與我的研究的兩名女性均在此前多次自殺嘗試中倖存下來，但此後死亡。

My colleagues and I are now examining data which suggests detentions fell in some areas during the initial lockdown period.我和我的同事現在正在研究數據，這些數據表明在最初的封鎖期間某些地區的拘留有所減少。 Given then that varying COVID-19 restrictions look set to be with us for a considerable time to come – and the widespread impact on people's mental wellbeing this may have – access to intervention and consistent support must be a priority.鑑於此，COVID-XNUMX的各種限制似乎將在相當長的一段時間內伴隨著我們-以及對人們心理健康的廣泛影響-獲得乾預和持續支持必須成為優先事項。 This is vital to prevent the next attempt from becoming fatal.這對於防止下一次嘗試變得致命至關重要。