Suicide Stigma in Christian Faith Communities: A Qualitative Study

Karen Mason

doi:10.3390/rel12070540

Abstract

Given the increasing numbers of U.S. lives lost to suicide, it is imperative to identify factors that can help protect against suicide. While regular religious service attendance has been found to be protective against suicide, faith communities have taboos against suicide which may be associated with stigma. Nine Christian faith leaders and congregants and one moral psychologist completed interviews on suicide stigma in Christian faith communities. Themes that emerged included internal, interpersonal, and theological components and group differences related to suicide stigma in Christian faith communities. Participants proposed seven barriers and seven corresponding ways to address suicide stigma in Christian faith communities: talk about suicide, address skill deficits, practice vulnerability, get leadership on board, address the theology of suicide, appreciate that faith communities have a unique contribution to make to suicide prevention, and address cultural/systemic issues.

Highlights

Suicide is a growing tragedy in the U.S The number of Americans lost to suicide has steadily climbed from 29,199 in 1999 to 48,344 in 2018 (CDC 2005), more than the number of those lost to opioid overdose in 2018: 46,802 (Hedegaard et al 2020)
P1 said, “Unless we talk about help-seeking regularly and about suicide more than occasionally, we develop or reinforce a culture of not seeking help.”
Faith communities have a unique role in suicide prevention, integrating faith into the suicide prevention discourse

Summary

Introduction

Suicide is a growing tragedy in the U.S The number of Americans lost to suicide has steadily climbed from 29,199 in 1999 to 48,344 in 2018 (CDC 2005), more than the number of those lost to opioid overdose in 2018: 46,802 (Hedegaard et al 2020). Given the increasing numbers of lives lost to suicide, it is imperative to identify factors that can help protect against suicide. Regular religious service attendance has been found to be protective against suicide in large prospective cohort studies (Chida et al 2009; Li et al 2016a, 2016b; VanderWeele et al 2016). VanderWeele (2018) notes, “Something about the communal religious experience seems to matter. Many have suggested that what is important about faith communities is social support (VanderWeele et al 2017). While social isolation is a public health crisis

Results

Discussion

Conclusion