A study by DREES highlights an increasing discomfort in adolescent girls and young women, whose hospitalizations for self-inflicted gestures have increased in recent years.
- In a recent report, the National Suicide Observatory reported that the suicide rate in young women has increased by almost 40 % (from 1.15 to 1.60 per 100,000) between 2020 and 2022.
- However, they remain the population in which the suicide rate is the lowest.
- In 2023, “516 women aged 15 to 19 out of 100,000 were hospitalized for self-inflicted gestures (46 % compared to 2017).”
On February 25, the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) published The sixth report of the National Suicide Observatory. This reveals mental health problems in young women under the age of 25. In detail, since 2017, the number of hospitalizations for self-inflicted gestures has only increased, has accelerated from 2021 and persisted beyond the post-Cavid period. In 2023, “516 women aged 15 to 19 out of 100,000 were hospitalized for self-inflicted gestures (+ 46 % compared to 2017), more than four times the rate observed in men (113 out of 100,000).” As a reminder, self-inflicted gestures count (without being able to distinguish them) attempts at suicide and non-suicidal self-control, such as scarifications.
In young women, the suicide rate went from 1.15 to 1.60 per 100,000 in two years
The study also shows that in those under 25, suicide is the second cause of mortality. Between 2020 and 2022, the suicide rate in young women increased by almost 40 % (from 1.15 to 1.60 per 100,000). However, they remain the population in which the suicide rate is the lowest. More broadly, in all young people, the suicide rate is the lowest: 2.7 per 100,000 among those under 25, against 13.3 for the entire population. Indeed, the risk of suicide death is much higher in older people, women and men. “The suicide rate of people aged 85-94 is 35.2 per 100,000, near the triple of the rate measured for the whole population. At this age, men face an eight time higher than women and 25 times larger than men under 25. In addition, their suicide rate increases clearly between 2021 and 2022, going from 77 to 86 suicides” Can we read in the study.
Psychic disorders: “The possibility of using active help to die allows the beginning of care of discomfort”
The National Suicide Observatory also addressed the question of the opening of active help to die (AAM), which has been, for several years, at the center of the public and parliamentary debate. Her “Opening to people with mental disorders raises questions, the assessment of the request coming up against many difficulties. On the other hand, we do not seem to observe any ‘deferral’ effects of suicides to the AAM devices in countries where these have been legalized or authorized by case law. When AAM exists, all requests for death are far from succeeding and, in some cases, the possibility of resorting to AAM management of discomfort, opening a perspective-certainly counter-intuitive-prevention of suicide. “
In conclusion, the DREES recalls that in the event of distress or suicidal thoughts, people can contact the national suicide prevention number, on the end of the line, a professional, specifically trained in suicide prevention, will be able to listen to them.
