Suicide In Hong Kong

Suicide is a critical public-health issue. The World Health Organization estimates that 800,000 people die by suicide every year globally, while the suicide rate in Hong Kong has been increasing since the

outbreak of COVID-19, reaching an average of 3 cases per day.

Many people may have trouble adapting to changes in their lives and have encountered emotional and behavioural problems in our dynamic living environments. Drastic changes in financial, social, and relationship status may be difficult to adapt to in such a short period of time. Different problems would arise, for example, unemployment, excessive workload for working from home and left-alone learning ex

perience for students having online lessons. An "extremely complicated process", is needed to evaluate an individual's reasons for committing suicide(Shafiei, 2022).

Therapists and other professionals play a crucial role in providing services to individuals who are at risk. The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong is one of the leading organisations that provide support to people who are facing major challenges in their lives, giving ear to them when they need it. Yet their volunteering works are not appreciated and supported by stakeholders as they should be, therefore, not only much of their hard work went in vain but also services were not allocated properly.

We will be including more details about suicide in Hong Kong. In addition, we hope to provide more useful sug

gestions and guidelines on how people can help those who are suffering in our future posts.

自殺問題一直

是在國際層面上受大眾高度關注的議題。世界衛生組織(WHO)預估全球平均每年有800,000人因自殺身亡。 自從COVID-19全球爆發，本地的自殺人數劇升至平均每天3人。人們因疫情而未能於短時間內適應有關經濟損失，人際關係和社會帶來的改變。其他問題亦因而衍生，例如失業，工作量因在家工作而倍增，以及網上學習減少學生的社交活動。 若要得知其自殺動機需要極其複雜及長時間的臨床評估，它們甚至可能涉及童年創傷及多方面的影響。

專業的精神健康人員在為高危人群提供服務中發揮著重要的作用。例如防止自殺組織----香港撒瑪利亞防止自殺會，接受過專業訓練及實習的義工提供電話熱線服務幫助求助者紓緩情緒。可惜的是在華人社會文化中, 心理疾病經常被視為”異類” 或“他人重擔” 等負面的一群 ,導致不少人不願意尋求協助, 使輕生文化日益嚴重。

我們在未來會提供更多關於幫助有自殺傾向人仕的建議，令大家都可以為自己身邊受同樣的問題所困擾的人提供協助。