‘At suicidal thoughts, not only talk to fellow sufferers. This is how you end up in a negative spiral, « these researchers say

Although the number of people who commit suicide has hardly changed for years, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) last year has the highest number of suicides among young women between 10 and 30 years old registered Since the start of the measurement in 1950. In 2024, 117 young women put an end to their lives, while there were 78 a year earlier, and in 2022 104. To correct the measurements for population growth, the CBS formulates it: between 2000 and 2004, 2.7 young women on the 100,000 inhabitants of the Netherlands was held up to 420 and 2024, between 2020 and 2020, on the Netherlands, on the two -2020 and 2024, the huding, on the Netherlands, on Self.7 on the Netherlands, on the Netherlands, on Self.7, on the Netherlands, on the Netherlands. And for young men, suicide is increasingly common. A total of 1,849 people were killed by suicide in 2024.

Sometimes peaks can be explained in suicide rates, explains Renske Gilissen. She is professor of suicide prevention at Leiden University. After the worldwide economic recession of 2008, for example, the number of suicides increased. But the last rise, which among young women, does not have such a clear catalyst.

« In any case, there is rarely one reason, one cause of a case of suicide, » says Gilissen, who conducts suicide prevention into suicide for Stichting 113. Her colleague Lizanne Scheweren, who focuses on the relationship between suicidality and other death wishes, such as euthanasia in unbearably psychological suffering in her research. « It’s an accumulation of factors, » she says. « Now we have been seeing for a while that the mental health of young people is not doing so well. »

We often hear from young women that they have many long -term psychological problems

Stichting 113 does a survivor’s research, says Gilissen, where after a suicide with relatives of the deceased it is discussed what preceded it. « We often hear from young women that they have many long -term psychological problems. Personality problems, for example, or autism. And that it was difficult to find good care. »

A small part of the young people who died by suicide had registered for a euthanasia procedure, says Schweren. And it is relatively more often women who start that process.

Negative

What Gilissen belongs in conversations with relatives is that the way young people talk about their suicidal thoughts has changed. The conversations they have about it are « negative. » They mainly feed them with peers who also do not feel well either. « In groups of friends, at school, but also when they are included in mental health care, or via social media. They mainly look for fellow sufferers who, like them, have suicidal thoughts or damage themselves. This way you end up in a negative spiral. »

« It is important for young people to know that conversations do not necessarily help. Please talk about it with your mentor or your parents, with other adults. Not only with age or fellow sufferers, » says Gilissen. For teachers and employees of GGZ clinics, it is important not only to talk to the child who has suicidal thoughts, but with the entire group of friends around them. And as a parent, occasionally check what your child looks at online.

According to Gilissen, fellow sufferers are easier to find than ever by social media. Videos are shared with hashtags on which you can search on Tiktok, groups are created in which experiences are shared. As mainly young women share competitive videos about eating disorders, about how few calories they have received that day, there is also an atmosphere of competition in videos about suicidal thoughts and self -harm. « In addition, the pressure from a certain image must be met, that other people share on their channels again, » says Gilissen. But, social media do not explain everything – « some young people also help: you make it easier to make friends all over the world. »

Suicidality is a combination of vulnerability and external stress factors, underlines Gilissen. « That can also be performance pressure at school, uncertainty about the future, war threat, the climate, the housing market. »

UWV and debt counseling

Although the increase among young people is strong, the largest number of suicides takes place among another group: men between 50 and 70 years old. « It is a phase in which people look back on their lives until then, » says Gilissen. They wonder if they are actually satisfied. People who live on benefits, for example, or single people, are risk groups. « People in that situation can feel useless, lonely. And then ask themselves: why am I here? » Says Gilissen.

Young women often seek professional help, middle -aged men not

Because those risks are known, in addition to psychologists and psychiatrists, other professional groups are now being trained to conduct conversations about suicide. This concerns, for example, employees of the UWV benefits agency, debt counseling and occupational physicians. That is necessary, just next to mental health care, says Gilissen. « Young women often seek professional help, not middle -aged men. »

At Stichting 113, Gilissen notices that there is often still shame to talk about suicidal thoughts. « Also because others often have the feeling that they don’t know what to say to someone with suicidal thoughts and therefore not dare to have the conversation. » The foundation offers training as part of them Question but campaign. « Everyone should be able to have a conversation about suicide. »

Do you think of suicide? For 24/7, contact 0800-0113 or Chat for free and free 113.nl.

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