JSP
                     Journal of Suicide Prevention                                                                                     
https://isssp.ir                                                                                               Vol. 2. 2020. Article ID: e2020001

 

Editorial                                                     

 
 
Covid-19 Pandemic, Suicidal Behavior and the International COVID-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration (ICSPRC)

 

 

Mohsen Rezaeian¹

 
1. Prof., Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Occupational Environmental Research Center, School of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran
 
 
An unknown infection, started in Wuhan, China in December 2019, was labeled three months later a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Since then, COVID-19 has affected almost all countries around the world, causing substantial excess mortality and morbidity and radical changes to the way people live their lives, resulting from government infection control counter-measures. ‘Lockdowns’, in which non-essential businesses, universities, schools, places of worship and meeting places have been closed, leading to social isolation, loneliness and social disconnectedness, have had a major impact on the mental health and well-being of the population.
Under such circumstances, an increase in different types of violence and suicidal behavior might be expected, although the timing of their occurrence is uncertain. Scientists should therefore be prepared to undertake studies, both short- and long-term, of suicidal behavior during the different stages of the pandemic. As early as April 2020, a group of researchers, originally from around 30 countries, developed a new initiative, the International COVID-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration (ICSPRC) [1], to investigate the impact of Covid-19 on suicidal behaviors. The ICSPRC rapidly produced a commentary in Lancet Psychiatry [2] and an editorial in Crisis [3].
Up to now, the ICSPRC has worked hard to share relevant research and information by increasing its membership to cover as many countries as possible, conducting webinars and publishing regular newsletters. I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the closeness and inter-dependence of people: a small outbreak in one community can destroy the lives and livelihoods of people all over the world. I also believe that initiatives such as the ICSPRC have revealed the fundamental importance of global collaboration between suicidologists working in all disciplines for combating the impact of COVID-19 and similar threats on mental health and suicidal behavior.  
 
References:
1. International COVID-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration. https://www.iasp.info/COVID-19_suicide_research.php. Last accessed December 2020.
2. Gunnell D, Appleby L, Arensman E, Hawton K, John A, Kapur N, et al. Suicide risk and prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Psychiatry 2020; 7: 468–71. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30171-1.
3. Niederkrotenthaler T, Gunnell D, Arensman E, Pirkis J, Appleby L, Hawton K, et al. Suicide research, prevention, and COVID-19. Crisis 2020; 14: 321–30. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000731.