2022 Causes of Death data release
Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the data on Causes of Death in 2022. There were a number of changes to the number and rates of suicide last year, as compared to previous years and these were highlighted to the sector in the Mindframe sector briefing earlier today. The Mindframe team have put together a summary of the data with key statistics noted. Our founder, Hayley, spoke at the briefing to highlight what the data means for people with lived experience. You can read the presentation below.
As you read through comments and reports on the release today, take care of yourself and those around you. Support is available.
Selected transcript from Mindframe Sector Briefing, 11.30am 27 September 2023. Presenter, Hayley Purdon.
Firstly, I want to thank the ABS for their ongoing work to continue to improve reporting on what we know about suicide. Each year they present data of higher and higher quality and this work is not unnoticed by people with lived experience of suicide.
This day is an anticipated day for the suicide prevention sector, community and those with lived experience of suicide. Every year we await the release of these numbers to start to compare if we are doing better or worse than we did last year. When rates go up, media and organisations report that “rates are going up, we should be alarmed” and if they go down, we say “yes they have gone down but there is so much still to be done”. We report on this release as if it represents how we function as a sector and how well we are doing with preventing suicide but what does this release not tell us?
I speak to you today, openly identifying as a person who has survived a suicide attempt. I also experience thoughts of suicide as a completely understandable response to how hard life can be at times.
My suicide attempt is not counted in any dataset and many others are the same. When I attempted suicide, I was hospitalised but stated the harm I had done was not a suicide attempt from fear of stigma and involuntary hospital admission. Others make attempts but do not come into contact with any service. When it comes to the number of people living with thoughts of suicide, the numbers are estimates at best, calculated through surveys that are then extrapolated to estimate what a population rate might look like. This information is helpful but its hard to collect and only part of the story.
How do we measure how well we do when we don’t know much about those who live with thoughts of suicide and make suicide attempts?
Those who are left behind after a suicide death or those who support people through suicide are another group that is not counted in todays release. Supporting someone who is thinking of suicide, has made an attempt or dies by suicide is one of the most difficult experiences that you can go through.
The day someone I love dearly made a suicide attempt was the most panic I had ever felt. I was speaking to them on the phone, trying to keep them talking while driving over to be with them through their distress. The anxiety I felt took over my whole body and time seemed to pass so slowly around me. This feeling has lessened but never gone away and it magnifies when the person I love is in distress. Again, our estimates of how many people have these experiences are also, only estimates. Many have tried to calculate the number of people who are impacted by a suicide death but these numbers have a large variance and do not represent the number of those who support others.
How can we measure how well we support people who support those who experience suicide when we don’t know much about them?
Each year the data show us that there are some groupings within our population where suicide deaths are more frequent but what is not said in these groupings? We talk about things like “priority populations” but to someone with lived experience who is not represented in these groups, do they hear that they are not a priority? Perhaps we can shift our language to talk about “people who are disproportionately affected by suicide”. Grouping people can be useful for a quick understanding of the impact of suicide, but it can distract us from the complexity of the suicide experience.
We call out risk factors, as we have done in this release but there are many other factors that help people to live, despite these risks. With my lived experience, I have a handful of the top 10 risk factors for 2022 but I am still living. You won’t find any of the factors that enable me, and others with lived experience, to continue to live listed in the data release.
So please, as you consider your public messaging about today’s release, of course, remember each of the people who are counted in these numbers. Understand and celebrate the improvements led by the ABS in bringing us data that is more accurate and gives us a deeper understanding of who is impacted by suicide.
I call for you to also note those who are not counted in this release and to be mindful of what our messages don’t say but how they are heard. Most important of all, don’t measure our success as a sector on data representing only part of the suicide experience. Suicide is complex, lean on the voices of those with lived experience to fill in the gaps and to help tell the whole story of the impact of suicide in our communities.
