Endurance

Abstract

You could be forgiven for thinking of every suicide as a lightning strike: an unpredictable flash of tragedy with shocking but isolated damage. In reality, however, suicides have more in common with earthquakes. Their effects reverberate far beyond an epicentre of devastation. Around 60 people are intimately affected by each of the 800 000 annual global suicides, bereaving an estimated 48 million to 500 million people a year. These survivors are exposed to an increased risk of suicide and mental illness themselves, and experience stigma, rejection, and shame. To maintain the analogy, most people will have their psychological foundations rocked again and again by suicide over the course of their lives.