What lies ahead: Elevated concerns for the ongoing suicide pandemic.

Abstract

The genesis and global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in significant health concerns amid societies that were ill-equipped for such a formidable opponent. The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated systemic health disparities and weaknesses within our health care and political systems. With aggressive but necessary interventions to thwart the instantaneous reproduction number, we have simultaneously introduced risk factors for new and exacerbated mental health concerns. Suicide, an ongoing pandemic whose rates are higher than they have been in the past 50 years, is one of these concerns as we navigate COVID-19 deaths and fears surrounding its spread. This article aims to briefly describe in retrospect some of the historical pandemics and their downstream consequences as well as present what may lie ahead in terms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviors. This applies not only to frontline health care workers but also the public at large, who may very well experience long-term stressor- and trauma-related consequences through ongoing exposure to a virus that is not only potentially fatal but may have taken the lives of loved ones. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)