Samaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, often through its telephone helpline. Its name derives from the biblical Parable of the Good Samaritan, although the organisation itself is not religious.
The Art of Happiness is a book by the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, a psychiatrist who posed questions to the Dalai Lama. Cutler quotes the Dalai Lama at length, providing context and describing some details of the settings in which the interviews took place, as well as adding his own reflections on issues raised.
Edward Chad Varah was a British Anglican priest and social activist from England. In 1953, he founded the Samaritans, the world's first crisis hotline, to provide telephone support to those contemplating suicide.
A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. The first such service was founded in England in 1951 and such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the English speaking world at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have expanded their mandate to deal more generally with emotional crises. Similar hotlines operate to help people in other circumstances, including rape, bullying, self-harm, runaway children, human trafficking, and people who identify as LGBTQ+ or intersex. Despite crisis hotlines being common, their effectiveness in reducing suicides is not clear.
Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation. Loneliness is also described as social pain – a psychological mechanism which motivates individuals to seek social connections. It is often associated with a perceived lack of connection and intimacy. Loneliness overlaps and yet is distinct from solitude. Solitude is simply the state of being apart from others; not everyone who experiences solitude feels lonely. As a subjective emotion, loneliness can be felt even when a person is surrounded by other people.
Suicide prevention is a collection of efforts to reduce the risk of suicide. Suicide is often preventable, and the efforts to prevent it may occur at the individual, relationship, community, and society level. Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have long-lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities. Preventing suicide requires strategies at all levels of society. This includes prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities. Suicide can be prevented by learning the warning signs, promoting prevention and resilience, and committing to social change.
Survivor guilt or survivor's guilt happens when individuals feel guilty after they survive a near death or traumatic event when others perished. It can cause similar depressive symptoms associated with PTSD. Niederlande first introduced the term to describe the feeling of punishment many of the Holocaust survivors felt for surviving their loved ones. The experience and manifestation of survivor's guilt will depend on an individual's psychological profile. When the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) was published, survivor guilt was removed as a recognized specific diagnosis, and redefined as a significant symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The history of survivor guilt outlines similar symptoms among many groups and individuals that experience tragic situations. Other patterns of guilt are found in medical aid groups who lose patients and place blame on themselves. Examples of traumatic events involve situations where an individual feels intense feeling of guilt after a loved one has passed. War and the losing of a loved one due to traumatic events are closely related to feelings of depression and anxiety, that can later lead to PTSD. Suicidal thoughts are related to intense feelings of anxiety and depression from guilt related to traumatic events.
Suicide intervention is a direct effort to prevent a person or persons from attempting to take their own life or lives intentionally.
Suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, is the thought process of having ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of completing suicide. It is not a diagnosis but is a symptom of some mental disorders, use of certain psychoactive drugs, and can also occur in response to adverse life circumstances without the presence of a mental disorder.
The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong (SBHK) is a non-government organisation. It is a local voluntary agency which provides counselling services to people with suicidal tendencies or behaviour. This organisation was the first of its kind in Asia.
A suicide crisis, suicidal crisis or potential suicide is a situation in which a person is attempting to kill themselves or is seriously contemplating or planning to do so. It is considered by public safety authorities, medical practice, and emergency services to be a medical emergency, requiring immediate suicide intervention and emergency medical treatment. Suicidal presentations occur when an individual faces an emotional, physical, or social problem they feel they cannot overcome and considers suicide to be a solution. Clinicians usually attempt to re-frame suicidal crises, point out that suicide is not a solution and help the individual identify and solve or tolerate the problems.
Belongingness is the human emotional need to be an accepted member of a group. Whether it is family, friends, co-workers, a religion, or something else, some people tend to have an 'inherent' desire to belong and be an important part of something greater than themselves. This implies a relationship that is greater than simple acquaintance or familiarity.
Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high. Among youth, attempting suicide is more common among girls; however, boys are more likely to actually perform suicide. For example, in Australia suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as its leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25.
The Samaritans Hong Kong is a free 24-hour multilingual suicide prevention hotline in Hong Kong. It is a non-religious charity that provides confidential emotional support to all people, irrespective of race, creed, age or status, who are in emotional distress or suicidal. The organisation is registered as a charity in Hong Kong, and governed by its unpaid volunteers.
Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2022 there were 5,642 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 15 suicides per day. 74.1% of suicides in England and Wales in 2022 were males. In Scotland there were 762 probable suicides in 2022, equating to an average of 2 suicides per day. In Northern Ireland there were 203 suicide deaths registered in 2022. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 50 in the UK.
Vandrevala Foundation is an NGO established by Cyrus Vandrevala and Priya Vandrevala in 2008. In 2009, the foundation launched the "Mental Health - India" initiative to raise awareness and provide services for emotionally distressed individuals.
Suicide awareness is a proactive effort to raise awareness around suicidal behaviors. It is focused on reducing social stigmas and ambiguity by bringing attention to suicide statistically and sociologically, and by encouraging positive dialogue and engagement to prevent suicide. Suicide awareness is linked to suicide prevention as both address suicide education and the dissemination of information to ultimately decrease the rate of suicide. Awareness is the first stage that can ease the need for prevention. Awareness signifies a fundamental consciousness of the threat, while prevention focuses on stopping the act. Suicide awareness is not a medical engagement but a combination of medical, social, emotional and financial counseling. Suicide awareness in adolescents focuses on the age group between 10–24 years, beginning with the onset of puberty.
In 2017, the suicide rate in Hong Kong was around 12 deaths per 100,000 people and ranked 32 in the world standing, which was its lowest rate in four years. The suicide rate for males was nearly double that for females, as it was 16.2 deaths per 100,000 males, and 8.8 deaths per 100,000 females. Although it has decreased slightly compared to previous years, for those aged 19 or younger it has risen by 50%. The Samaritans Hong Kong charity has described the issues as worthy of attention.
Pandemic fatigue is understood as a natural and expected reaction to sustained and unresolved adversity in people's everyday life. Those affected show symptoms of feeling burnt out and tired, while also expressing feelings of demotivation to engage in protection behaviors and seek COVID-19 related information as complacency, alienation and hopelessness.
