How often do people with mental illness commit suicide?
Suicide is the number one cause of premature death among people with schizophrenia, with an estimated 10 percent to 13 percent killing themselves. Suicide is even more pervasive in individuals with bipolar disorder, with 15 percent to 17 percent taking their own lives. The extreme depression and psychoses that can result due to lack of treatment are the usual causes of death. These suicides rates can be compared to the general population, which is somewhere around 1 percent. It is estimated that adequate psychiatric treatment could save up to 5,000 lives per year. More …
Suicide is the number one cause of premature death among people with schizophrenia, with an estimated 10 percent to 13 percent killing themselves. Suicide is even more pervasive in individuals with bipolar disorder, with 15 percent to 17 percent taking their own lives. The extreme depression and psychoses that can result due to lack of treatment are the usual causes of death. These suicides rates can be compared to the general population, which is somewhere around 1 percent. It is estimated that adequate psychiatric treatment could save up to 5,000 lives per year.
