[Epidemiological study of suicide in Japan--is it possible to reduce committing suicide?]

It is reported that the annual number of suicides in Japan is more than 20,000, which is as twice as the number of death by traffic accidents. Nevertheless, few protective activities have been developed by government or society. This paper introduces the actual states of suicide in the past few years in Japan, expecting to start a movement for reducing suicidal number by government, society and family in Japan. The number of suicide was less than 15,000 in the late 1960s, but it increased to more than 20,000 in 1970s, which has not been reduced up to the present and the highest number 256,000 was recorded in 1986. The Ministry of Welfare reports that the prefectures showing higher rate of suicide have been Akita, Iwate and Niigata, whose suicide rates are 10 points higher than that of the national average. On the other hand, the prefectures such as Nara, Shiga, Shizuoka and Kanagawa have shown lower rate of suicide. In all the prefectures, the number of males is constantly much larger than that of females and, furthermore, the rate of suicide in the male and female aged group (over 65 years old) is much higher than that of the under-64-year-old group. As a background of suicide, psychiatric disorders account for 30-50% of all suicides in the younger and prime generations, but as a motive of suicide the pain of sickness amounts to 60-70% in the aged group. It is suspected by our epidemiological investigations that the pain of sickness is not a true motive for committing suicide. Sickness usually accompanies anxiety, pessimistic view of life, loss of an important part in his/her family and economical uneasiness. The most frequently used method for committing suicide in male and female especially in the aged group is hanging, and next to this are inhalation of car exhaust, drowning oneself and taking poisons. Firearms are quite rarely used in Japan. Aging, mental disorders and genetic factors are considered to be risk factors for suicide attempt. It should be pointed out that betterment of home life, mental independence, death education and forced intervention by psychiatrists are required to reduce the number of suicides.