Suicide In Japan Research Articles

Uncertainties of Economic Policy and Government Management Stability Played Important Roles in Increasing Suicides in Japan from 2009 to 2023.

Standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 (SMRs) in Japan consistently decreased from 2009 to 2019 but increased from 2020. The causes of these temporal SMR fluctuations remain to be clarified. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the causalities underlying the recently transformed fluctuations of suicide mortality in Japan. Monthly suicide numbers disaggregated by sex and social standing, and political uncertainty indices, such as economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and government management instability (AENROP), were obtained from Japanese government databases. Interrupted time-series analysis was performed to analyze temporal fluctuations of SMRs disaggregated by sex/social standing associated with the three General Principles of Suicide Prevention Policy (GPSPP) periods and the COVID-19 pandemic. Panel data and vector autoregressive analyses were conducted to investigate causalities from political uncertainties to SMRs. During the first and second GPSPPs (2009-2017), all SMRs disaggregated by sex and social standing decreased, whereas those of unemployed females did not change. During the third GPSPP (2017-2022), decreasing trends in all SMRs were attenuated compared to previous periods. All female SMRs, except unemployed females, showed sharp increases synchronized with the pandemic outbreak. No male SMRs showed sharply increasing at the pandemic outbreak. SMRs of unemployed males/females drastically increased in the later periods of the pandemic, while SMRs of employed and multiple-person/single-person household males did not increase during the pandemic. SMR of unemployed males was positively related to AENROP but not EPU. Other male SMRs were positively related to EPU/AENROP. On the contrary, not all female SMRs were related to EPU/AENROP. Increasing AENROP generally contributed to increasing male SMRs throughout the observation period; however, susceptibility to AENROP and/or political information might have unexpectedly contributed to suppressing the sharply increasing male SMRs induced by large-scale social shocks (the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak) in Japan.

Exploring factors associated with increased suicides during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: A study using data from postmortem examinations conducted in an urban area.

The purpose of this study is to examine factors associated with increased suicide deaths during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan using primary data from postmortem examinations. We explored factors associated with suicides that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020 to December 2021) using data from 115 postmortem examinations of suicides that occurred in one city in the Kanto region between January 2017 and December 2021. Multivariate analysis using graphical modelling and logistic regression analysis showed that both female sex (adjusted odds ratio: 3.732; 95% confidence interval: 1.044-13.345) and multiple mental disorders (adjusted odds ratio: 7.344; 95% confidence interval: 1.316-40.987) were significantly associated with suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic among the young age group (39 years or under). The study results suggest that in addition to the factor of female sex previously identified, morbidity due to multiple mental disorders may be associated with the increased suicides in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this study presented the new methodological possibility of analyzing background factors of suicide using postmortem examination data. In preparation for similar emergencies in the future, it is necessary to establish a system that provides care for multiple mental disorders and a continuous suicide-monitoring system that combines methods such as psychological autopsies with other methods.

Different trends in suicide rates among foreign residents in Japan and Japanese citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundSuicide rates in Japan have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and foreign residents may be more vulnerable to mental stress during such crises. Therefore, we aimed to compare the trends in suicide rates during the COVID-19 pandemic between foreign residents and Japanese citizens.MethodsVital statistics of Japan data from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 were used to calculate quarterly sex-specific suicide rates for foreign residents and Japanese citizens. An event-study analysis was conducted to evaluate whether suicide rates during the COVID-19 pandemic increased compared to pre-pandemic estimates; foreign residents and Japanese citizens were compared using difference-in-difference-in-differences estimates.ResultsBetween 2016 and 2021, 1,431 foreign residents and 121,610 Japanese citizens died from suicide in Japan. Although the suicide rate for foreign residents was lower than that for Japanese citizens, Korean residents, who comprise approximately half of the foreign decedents, had largely higher suicide rates than Japanese citizens. The event-study analysis indicated that suicide rates increased among foreign residents for both men and women, and continued for men by the end of 2021. In Japanese citizens, after a decline in suicide rates in the second quarter of 2020, suicide rates increased both among men and women, and lasted for women until the fourth quarter of 2021. The difference-in-difference-in-differences analyses confirmed the initial decline in the second quarter of 2020 in suicide rate only in Japanese men and women, and the persistent increase through 2021 in foreign men.ConclusionsWe found differential trends in suicide rates between foreign and Japanese men and women during the COVID-19 pandemic featuring a persistent increase in foreign men. Suicide prevention measures should be focused on these high-risk subpopulations.

Short-term exposure to ambient temperature and the mortality burden of suicide in Japan

Background. Previous studies suggest that temperature may trigger suicide, with higher ambient temperatures associated with increased risk globally. However, quantification of the attributable suicide burden due to non-optimal temperatures, particularly across specific subgroups like sex, age, and method of suicide, is limited. This study aimed to quantify this attributable burden across Japan and assess variations in these subgroups to enhance understanding and identify high-risk populations. Methods. Data on daily suicide counts and mean temperatures were collected for all 47 prefectures in Japan (1973–2015) for a comprehensive, nationally representative analysis. Using time-stratified case-crossover analyses and a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM), we estimated temperature-suicide associations, accounting for long-term trends, seasonality, and day-of-the-week effects, and capturing both nonlinear and delayed impacts of temperature. Overall attributable fractions and fractions attributable to cold (0th-10th percentile), cool (10th-50th), warm (50th-90th), and hot (90th-100th) temperatures were computed. Subgroup analyses were conducted by sex, age (0 – 64 years and ≥65 years), and method of suicide (violent or nonviolent). Results. Approximately 19.9% of suicides (95% empirical confidence interval (eCI): 18.8, 20.9) could be attributed to non-optimal temperatures, representing the proportion of cases that would not have occurred under optimal temperature conditions, identified at the temperature corresponding to the minimum risk of suicide. The highest fraction (9.9%, 95% eCI: 9.4, 10.4) was observed for warm temperatures (50th-90th percentile). Higher burdens were observed in females (23.7%), individuals aged ≥65 years (31.9%), and violent suicides (22.4%). Conclusions. Nearly 20% of suicides in Japan are associated with non-optimal temperatures, particularly during warmer conditions. These findings highlight the importance of integrating temperature considerations into suicide prevention strategies, particularly for vulnerable populations such as the elderly. While focused on Japan, these results advocate future research to explore similar burdens globally, enhancing our understanding of environmental impacts on suicide and informing targeted public health interventions.

The association between economic uncertainty and suicide in Japan by age, sex, employment status, and population density: an observational study

Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death globally, and previous research has revealed a link between economic conditions and mental health. However, the literature has focused primarily on recessions and unemployment, i.e. actual economic developments, as opposed to uncertainty, which relates to economic developments that have not (yet) materialised. This study examines the differential association between economic uncertainty and suicide in Japan, depending on age, sex, employment status, and population density, in order to identify the groups that are affected the most. Using monthly prefectural suicide mortality data from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and a monthly economic uncertainty index for the period 2009 to 2019, we employed a fixed effects panel data approach to examine the association between uncertainty and suicide by population group. We found that a 1% increase in economic uncertainty is associated with a 0.061 increase in the monthly number of suicides per 100,000 people per prefecture, on average (coefficient: 6.08; 95% CI: 5.07-7.08), which constitutes a 3.62% increase. Self-employed people, as well as men in their 50s and unemployed men, experience the highest additional risk of suicide when uncertainty increases. The association was approximately three times stronger for males than for females, and a strong association was observed for self-employed males living in more densely-populated areas. Uncertainty appears to relate to suicides for most groups, but self-employed people, males, and those living in more densely populated areas appear to be more at risk of suicide in periods of increased economic uncertainty. Our results provide an indication of which groups mental health services and prevention strategies can focus on in times of economic uncertainty. None.

Impacts of Working Hours, Wages, and Regular Employment Opportunity on Suicide Mortalities of Employed and Unemployed Individuals before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan.

Standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 population (SMRs) in Japan consistently decreased from 2009-2019, but these decreasing trends were reversed to increase in 2020. To clarify the mechanisms of recent increasing suicide in Japan, temporal fluctuations of SMRs disaggregated by sex and employment status (employed and unemployed individuals) and labor indices such as working hours, wages, and regular employment opportunity index (REO) from January 2012 to June 2023 were analyzed using interrupted time-series analysis. Additionally, temporal causalities from labor indices to SMRs were analyzed using vector autoregressive and non-linear auto-regressive distributed lag analyses. Decreasing trends among employed SMRs of both sexes were attenuated after the enactment of the "Work Style Reform Program" in 2018, but male SMRs were unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, female employed SMRs sharply increased, synchronized with the "Work Style Reform Act" and the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (the COVID-19 impact was greater than the "Work Style Reform Act"). Additionally, unemployed SMRs of both sexes sharply increased with the revision and scale-down of countermeasures against economic deterioration caused by COVID-19 ("revision of economic supportive countermeasures against economic deterioration caused by COVID-19"). Unexpectedly, after enacting the "Work Style Reform Act", wages decreased due to possibly decreasing working hours. Increasing REO, which consistently increased, was a protective factor for male suicides, but unemployed SMRs were not affected by any labor indices. It has been established that controlling a heavy workload plays an important role in suppressing the deterioration of physical and mental conditions, including suicide; however, this study suggested that, at least within appropriate ranges of working hours, decreasing working hours due to excessive management probably contributes to increasing suicides of some vulnerable individuals via de-creasing their wages. Although governmental welfare and economic support measures had to be revised according to rapidly changing situations during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study also suggested that temporal gaps among a part of revisions of several welfare and economic support measures were unexpectedly involved in drastically/sharply increasing suicides of unemployed individuals in 2022.

Excess suicides in Japan: A three-year post-pandemic assessment of gender and age disparities

This study offers an in-depth analysis of Japan's suicide trends three years after the COVID-19 outbreak. Using data from the National Police Agency (January 2010-May 2023), we examined suicide rates across genders and age groups. Employing the quasi-Poisson regression, we predicted monthly death counts. Findings indicate a steady rise in female suicides from April 2020 to January 2023. Notably, male cohorts aged 50–59 and over 80 in 2022 displayed heightened death rates. While these trends may reflect the impacts of the pandemic, it is essential to consider other factors, including socio-economic changes, to fully understand the context of Japan's suicide patterns.

Evaluation of organophosphorus pesticide tyrosine adducts for postmortem change by human serum albumin with liquid chromatography quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry.

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) having a phosphate ester moiety, such as malathion (MA) and methidathion (DMTP), are widely used and have been detected in many fatal cases of accidental exposure or suicide in Japan. In forensic toxicology, the accurate determination of blood OPP concentration is mandatory to prove death by OPP poisoning. However, fatal pesticide concentration in blood at autopsy varies depending on the circumstances surrounding the dead body. In this study, we found that 16 OPPs were degraded by human serum albumin (HSA) in a temperature-dependent fashion. The mechanism underlying MA, DMTP, azinphos-methyl, etrimfos, fenthion (MPP), pirimiphos-methyl, (E)-dimethylvinphos, (Z)-dimethylvinphos, vamidothion, edifenphos (EDDP), fosthiazate, and pyraclofos degradation involves the formation of adducts with tyrosine residues in HSA. The mass spectra obtained by liquid chromatography quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry revealed that phosphate ester amino acid adducts such as Y-adduct1, Y-adduct2, Y-adduct3, Y-adduct4, and Y-adduct5 were formed in HSA solution incubated with OPPs. These results indicate that the 16 OPPs are postmortem changed by HSA. The detection of phosphate ester amino acid adducts such as Y-adduct1, Y-adduct2, Y-adduct3, Y-adduct4, and Y-adduct5, instead of MA, DMTP, azinphos-methyl, etrimfos, MPP, pirimiphos-methyl, (E)-dimethylvinphos, (Z)-dimethylvinphos, vamidothion, EDDP, fosthiazate, and pyraclofos per se, may be used to determine death by these OPPs poisoning.

Trends in Suicidal Mortality and Motives among Working-Ages Individuals in Japan during 2007-2022.

Suicides in Japan consistently decreased from 2009-2019, but increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. To identify causes of increasing suicides, age-dependent and temporal fluctuations of suicide mortality rate per 100,000 (SMRP) in working-age generations (20-59 years) disaggregated by suicidal motives (7-categories; 52-subcategories) and sex from 2007 to 2022, were analyzed by analysis of variance and joinpoint regression, respectively, using the government suicide database "Suicide Statistics". The SMRP of 20-29 year-old males and 20-49 year-old females began to increase in the late 2010s. SMRPs of these high-risk groups for suicides caused by depression (the leading suicidal motive for all groups) began increasing in the late 2010s. Economic-related, employment-related, and romance-related problems contributed to the increasing SMRPs in 20-29 males in the late 2010s. Romance-related and family-related problems contributed to the increasing SMRPs of 20-29 females in the late 2010s. Increasing SMRPs caused by child-raising stress in 20-39 year-old females from the late 2010s was a remarkable finding. In contrast, SMRPs of 30-59 year-old males consistently decreased until 2021; however, in these groups, SMRPs for suicides caused by various motives sharply increased in 2022. The consistent increase in SMRPs of high-risk groups from the late 2010s to the pandemic suggest recent socioeconomic and psychosocial problems in Japan possibly contributed to the increasing SMRPs in these high-risk groups independently of pandemic-associated factors, whereas the SMRPs of males of 30-59 years were probably associated with the ending of the pandemic rather than pandemic-associated factors.

Impacts of Complete Unemployment Rates Disaggregated by Reason and Duration on Suicide Mortality from 2009-2022 in Japan.

In Japan, suicides had consistently decreased before the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2009-2019), but conversely increased after the pandemic outbreak (from 2020-2022). To identify the features of fluctuations of suicides in Japan, the standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 population (SMRP) disaggregated by gender (males/females) and age (10-year cohorts) from 2009-2022 were analyzed using interrupted time-series and joinpoint regression analyses. Temporal causalities from unemployment rate (CUR) disaggregated by unemployment duration and reasons for seeking work to SMRP were analyzed using vector autoregressive modelling with Granger causality analysis. SMRP fluctuations from 2009-2022 were composed of three patterns, such as positive discontinuity (increasing) synchronized with the pandemic outbreak, attenuations of decreasing trends before the pandemic, turning from decreasing before the pandemic to increasing/unchanging after the pandemic outbreak. Dismissal CUR positively related to SMRP of working-age generations, whereas voluntary CUR negatively related to SMRP of younger population (<30 years), which turned to persistently increasing before the pandemic (approximately 2016-2017). CUR shorter than 3 months positively related to SMRP of working-age females, which displayed promptly increasing synchronization with the pandemic outbreak. CUR longer than 12 months positively related to SMRP of working-age males, which contributed to persistently increasing SMRPs during the pandemic. These results suggest that increasing SMRP during 2020-2022 in Japan has been probably at-tributed to interactions among the pandemic-related factors, continuous vulnerabilities from before the pandemic and newly developing risk factors for suicides during the pandemic. Unexpectedly, increasing SMRPs of working-age males in 2022 suggest that either prolongation of the pandemic or the ending of the pandemic might positively affect suicides in Japan.

Shimpai Muyou: Confronting Child Suicides in Japan through a Serious Game & School-based Intervention

School bullying is responsible for a large number of child suicides in Japan. Serious games have proved to be effective and highly motivational educational tools capable of increasing awareness, changing behaviour, reduce risk factors and even improving protective skills. This paper presents a novel approach of using both participatory design and gameplay to sensitize children (aged 7–12​ years old) on bullying victimization. Action research strategy is used with intentions to improve the quality of school life in Japan through the use of a serious game called Shimpai Muyou. What makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd is that the entire intervention was design, developed and evaluated through partnering with children in a school setting. The research is largely qualitative and exploratory in nature, stemmed from interdisciplinary core ideas related to technology, education, psychology and interactive theatre. Findings from both formative and summative evaluations indicated that child-users empathically engaged with the synthetic characters, attributing a range of emotions to their actions e.g., empathy, compassion, sadness, anger etc., tackling ethical dilemmas and bullying situations with confidence. From these results, we can conclude that Shimpai Muyou is a useful and engaging school-based anti-bullying intervention.

2021 Annual Report of Japanese Brain Bank Network for Neuroscience Research

AbstractBackgroundJapanese Brain Bank Network for Neuroscience Research (JBBNNR) was established in 2001, whose reader is the Brain Bank for Aging Research (BBAR), the first and only Japanese Brain Bank dedicated for aging and dementia research.MethodBBAR recruited all the members of the Japanese Society of Neuropathology to establish JBBNNR, funded by MEXT in 2001, on the following four conditions: open resource, to organize brain donation system, to share quality control including neuropathological method and to combine clinical longitudinal studies like US ADNI. National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Mihara Memorial Hospital and Fukushimura Hospital joined JBBNNR. In 2020, Brain Bank for Neurodevelopmental, Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders (BBNNPD) joined JBBNNR. JBBNNR was established in United Graduate Shool of Child Development, Osaka University and was the first brain bank system in all the universities of Japan.ResultIn 2021, the pandemic of COVID‐19 seriously influenced recovery of postmortem brains via dramatic decrease of autopsy. JBBNNR promoted brain donation and began effort to include legal autopsy for Japanese equivalent of suicide bank and autism brain net in US. The main barrier resides in cultural respect of suicide in Japan, which makes it difficult to obtain the deceased first kin of relatives' consent for brain donation. The solid public support system for autism promised long life without accident and makes it difficult to recover autism brains through forensic pathology. A goog news is that BBNNPD proposed cloud funding in Osaka for the research of neurodevelopmental disorders and intractable neurological disorders and successfuly received donation of ten million yen. The main target of JBBNNR is Alzheimer disease and contributed clinical trials of amyloid pet in Japan. JBBNNR is based on full autopsy and reported that one third of geriatric population contained Lewy body pathology in the body. BBAR received the best reserch presentation award from the Japanese Society of Dementia Research about correlationg of in vivo PIB PET and postmortem Abeta deposition with shor interval.ConclusionJBBNNR continued to contribute neuroscience research, focused AD and dementia, in Japan.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on elementary school education in Japan

Education has an important meaning for the Japanese. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the education sector, giving rise to new problems due to the unpreparedness of society to face sudden changes. Elementary school is the most basic education in the formal education system in Japan, so it plays an important role as the main gate for Japanese society to obtain a formal education. Previous research has not specifically discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on elementary school education in Japan, therefore the discussion of this research focuses on phenomena that occur in elementary schools in Japan to find out more about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the educational policies made by the government. This study uses qualitative and descriptive-analytical methods through a literature review of books, journals, articles, and government or institutional reports related to elementary school in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the data, it was found that compared to higher education, basic education in Japan is far behind in using technology as a learning media. In addition, there was an increase in cases of child violence and child suicide in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Japanese government tried to overcome education challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional help-seeking for suicide in Japan: Modifiable factors influencing help-seeking beliefs, attitudes, and intentions

• Japan has a high suicide rate but concerningly low use of professional services • Beliefs, attitudes and intentions for help seeking for suicidal ideation were examined • High suicide literacy, low stigma, and low self-reliance associated with more positive attitudes • Specific subgroups of the Japanese population with increased risk were identified • There is a need to develop public health messaging to increase professional service use Despite high suicide rates in Japan, many people do not seek professional help for suicidal thoughts. We identified modifiable factors associated with help-seeking beliefs, attitudes, and intentions for suicidal ideation, and examined characteristics associated with suicidal ideation. Participants were 217 Japanese adults recruited online. We assessed beliefs, attitudes and intentions regarding professional help seeking, and recent suicidal ideation. Greater suicide exposure and less social support were associated with more negative help-seeking beliefs. More positive help-seeking attitudes were associated with less education, no religious affiliation, greater suicide literacy, lower suicide stigma, and lower self-reliance. No significant correlates of help-seeking intentions were identified. Recent suicidal ideation was associated with non-binary gender, less education, negative beliefs/attitudes towards help-seeking, poorer mental health, lower mastery, less social support, greater self-reliance, and greater suicide normalisation. Interventions to improve help-seeking in Japan emphasise the limits of self-reliance, and increase knowledge around suicide prevention and professional psychological services.

Japan's Declining Suicide Rate in Light of The Jisatsu Taisaku Kihon Hou Policy

Suicide in some countries in the world is not a big problem. But in Japan, suicide is a very worrying social problem. Japan since 1998 experienced a very high increase in suicide rates. In 1998, suicide rates in Japan rose to above 30 thousand, after previously stabilizing at 20 thousand. This suicide rate lasts up to 5 years and shows no signs of decreasing. Therefore, in 2006, the Japanese government made Jisatsu Taisaku Kihon Hou or suicide measures basic law to reduce suicide rates. As a result, suicide rates declined in 2010, 4 years after the adoption of the suicide measures basic law. This research seeks to reveal the influence of Jisatsu Taisaku Kihon Hou by decreasing suicide rates in Japan. The object of research is various kinds of public documents relating to suicide in Japan in the period from 2006 to 2019. Using policy theory and literature, this study reveals the impact brought about by making suicide prevention laws on suicide rates that high in Japan since 1998. This research shows the efforts of the Japanese government to reduce suicide rates by using a variety of programs for all ages and to apply to all kinds of places. Thus, suicide rates can be reduced so that the suicide rate in Japan is no longer a social problem.

Double suicide in Japan in the post-war reconstruction period, with reference to contemporary Japan.

After Japan's post-war reconstruction, in the early 1950s, cases of double suicide, in which two people (particularly young lovers) leave a suicide note and die together, were a relatively frequent occurrence. During the three-year period between 1954 and 1956, 5466 suicides were recorded in the special wards of Tokyo, including 79 cases of double suicides, accounting for 158 deaths. In these double suicide cases (2.89% of all deaths by suicide), the evidence revealed that 65.8% involved lovers and 29.1% involved married couples. By contrast, contemporary data indicate a large drop in suicide pacts between lovers to 15.9% and an increase between spouses to 48.8%. Conceivably, the relatively high double-suicide rate after post-war reconstruction reflected difficulties for the younger generation in reconciling 'marriage based primarily on love' and the traditional family system, specifically marriage problems and stress caused by rapidly changing post-war values. One notable difference between victims of double suicide in 1954-1956 and the contemporary period is the younger average age of the former. Another important shift was found in the most common causes of death among victims of double suicide: in 1954-1956 these were poisoning by cyanide or hypnotic drugs, compared to carbon monoxide poisoning and hanging in modern times. We discuss similarities and differences concerning double suicides in relation to social and economic conditions in Japan in the 1950s and today.

Projections of temperature-attributable suicide under climate change scenarios in Japan

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Recent studies have projected all-cause mortality attributable to non-optimal temperature under climate change scenarios. However, the impact of climate change on mental health remains to be assessed. The short-term association between suicide and temperature has been reported, but there is a lack of future projections of temperature-attributable suicide. We projected the excess temperature-related suicide mortality in Japan under three climate change scenarios until the 2090s. METHODS: Daily time series of mean temperature and the number of suicide deaths in 1973-2015 were collected for 47 prefectures in Japan. A two-stage time-stratified case-crossover analysis was used to estimate the temperature-suicide association. We obtained the modeled daily temperature series using five general circulation models (GCMs) under three climate change scenarios from the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios (SSPs): SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5. We projected the excess temperature-related suicide mortality until 2099 for each scenario and evaluated the net relative changes compared with the 2010s. RESULTS: During 1973-2015, there was a total of 1,049,592 suicides in Japan. Net increases in temperature-related excess suicide mortality were estimated under all scenarios, with the highest increase under the high-emission scenario (SSP5-8.5). The net change in 2090-99 compared with 2010-19 was 0.6% (95% empirical confidence interval [eCI]: 0.1, 1.6) for a low emission scenario (SSP1-2.6), 1.3% (95% eCI: 0.6, 2.4) for an intermediate scenario (SSP2-4.5), and 2.4% (95% eCI: 0.7, 3.9) for a high emission scenario (SSP5-8.5). The increases were greater the higher the emission scenarios were. The increase in excess temperature-related suicide mortality was minimized under the SSP1-2.6 scenario assuming mitigation strategies. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison of projection results under different scenarios underscores the importance of mitigation, with the higher the emissions, the greater impact on the temperature-related suicide mortality. Keywords:Climate change, non-optimal temperature, mental health, projections, DLNM

Factors Regarding Suicide Decline in Japan: A Longitudinal Study on Psychiatric Diagnosis of Serious Suicide Attempters.

The number of suicides in Japan decreased during the period from 2012 through 2019. Because data on factors associated with this decline are limited, we conducted a retrospective longitudinal study of psychiatric diagnoses of serious suicide attempters before 2012 and after 2019. Serious suicide attempters admitted to the critical care medicine (CCM) department of Nippon Medical School Hospital between 2006 and 2017 were included and classified as those before and after the suicide decline in 2012. Chi-square test and residual analysis were used to analyze changes in the proportion of suicide attempters among all patients admitted to CCM and to examine differences in the proportion of psychiatric diagnoses. The proportion of suicide attempters among CCM hospitalized patients decreased overall (χ2 (1) =18.29, p<.01). The proportion of psychiatric diagnoses changed significantly (χ2 (8) =62.21, p<0.001); specifically, it decreased for schizophrenia (residual: -2.28), depressive disorders (residual: -5.39), persistent mood disorders (residual: -3.58), and reaction to stress disorders (residual: -2.73). Depressive disorders decreased and had a large contribution ratio in both sexes. The decrease in the proportion of attempted suicides among patients admitted to CCM was consistent with the decline in suicides in Japan. Analysis by psychiatric diagnosis confirmed a significant decrease in the proportion of suicide attempts associated with depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and reaction to stress disorders, which were the most common disorders associated with attempted suicide. Depressive disorders made the greatest contribution to the reduction in suicide attempts.

Соціальні проблеми Японії в телепередачі “Світ навиворіт”

The article contains an analysis and comprehension of the series about Japan of the popular Ukrainian TV show “World inside out”, which covers modern acute social problems: loneliness, daily work in offices for more than 15 hours, “burnout” of people at work who do not have time for personal life, family, lack of housing or small housing where 2–3 generations live. There is an impressive information about the first place in the world of Japanese suicides due to job loss, working day in offices, twice the norm, without days off, constant sleep deprivation. TV shows illustrate the original unusual substitutes for the family: renting it for a day, renting a dog for a few hours or days, selling silicone doll girls for men’s comfort, paid services for schoolgirls in love bars to relieve stress with close and gentle touches, or tough touches. baring and gossiping, bench hotels for young couples. It is shown as an alternative to the loneliness of girls are modern guys for an hour, who meet in a special cafe with a girl, have a pleasant conversation for her, make compliments, and she pays for the illusion of dating, politeness and drinking. Innocent performances of numerous ensembles of schoolgirls who sing and dance on stage for boys and solid men in the hall, who are impressed by the young passion, fun and they sincerely applaud the students, also help to relieve stress. The annual bullfights are deliberately shown in the TV show, which also gives emotional relief to the fans; The Olympics in the mud, where young people take part in various trials in order not to win, but to fall into the liquid clay, get dirty, have fun like children to get rid of stress or depression.

Trends in Suicide in Japan Following the 2019 Coronavirus Pandemic

Trends in Suicide in Japan Following the 2019 Coronavirus Pandemic