Why do people choose charcoal burning as a method of suicide? An interview based study of survivors in Taiwan

Marked increases in the incidence of charcoal burning suicide have contributed to Taiwan's rising suicide rate in the past decade. To assess possible opportunities for intervention, we have compared survivors of suicide attempts by charcoal burning with people who ingested poisons.

We interviewed a consecutive series of suicide attempters by charcoal burning (n=37) and self-poisoning (n=38) admitted to Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) between January 2009 and March 2010. Interviews included the Structured Clinical Interview of DSMIV (SCID) and Beck Suicide Intent Scale.

Compared to people who ingested medicines/poisons, charcoal burning suicide attempters were less likely to have a pre-existing physical illness or contact with psychiatric services prior to the attempt and more likely to be employed. Charcoal burning suicide attempters had higher levels of suicide intent (mean score 20.1) compared to people ingesting poisons (mean score 13.5) (p<0.001) and were considerably more likely to report that their choice of method was influenced by the media (87% vs. 8%), particularly the portrayal of the method as a peaceful way of dying. Charcoal burning suicides were less impulsive.

The study sample was limited to a single hospital.

Survivors of suicide attempts by charcoal burning have high levels of intent and low levels of psychiatric contact indicating they may be more difficult to prevent than suicides by self-poisoning. Encouraging responsible media reporting of suicide and restricting the availability of charcoal may be the most promising approaches to preventing these deaths.