Predictors of not wanting to seek help or information for suicide thoughts

Approximately half of all individuals who die by suicide in Norway do not seek contact with specialist mental health services during the year before death. Here we aim to report the demographic characteristics and attitudes to suicide, mental ill health, and help-seeking in people who do not wish to seek help or information for suicide thoughts. Moreover, we identify the strongest predictors of non-help-seeking intentions.

A population sample (N = 3251) from the Mid- and West- Norway regions participated in an online survey of attitudes to suicide and help-seeking for mental ill health. The sample was recruited from the regional population that later was exposed to a media suicide prevention campaign. Of these, 167 individuals stated that they would not seek help or information if they were to get suicide thoughts.

The group of people who would not seek help or information for suicide thoughts, were more likely to be male, aged between 40 and 49 years, not being retired, or having experienced suicide or suicide attempts among family or friends, compared to the group that stated their help-seeking intentions. Moreover, they were more likely to report more negative attitudes to suicide (e.g., believing it can't be prevented, or that it should not be talked about), mental illness (e.g., wanting to hide depression, or wanting to sort out problems on their own), and help-seeking (e.g., feeling inferior if seeking professional help, or not being confident in getting help) as well as lower levels of support from family or friends. Stepwise logistic regression analyses identified male sex, not being confident in getting professional help for suicide thoughts, not being able to talk to family or friends about problems, and not wanting to disclose having depression, as the statistically significant predictors of not wanting to seek help or information, explaining 28% of the variance.

We conclude that these factors should be targeted in future suicide prevention efforts in Norway. In particular, the strongest predictor (Not being confident in getting professional care for suicide thoughts), should be addressed.

Not applicable.