Who seeks treatment where? Suicidal behaviours and Health Care: Evidence from a Community Survey

Reasons that bring suicide attempters to be in contact or not with health facilities are still insufficiently clarified. Using data from the WHO/SUPRE-MISS community survey, this study tried to shed more light on this problem, and also investigated the type and number of treatments sought by suicide attempters in two major cities of Queensland, Australia. Compared to those who did not attend services (n=142), help-seekers (n=257) had significantly greater odds of overdosing with medications, communicating suicidal thoughts, and reporting a history of psychological problems, previous attempts and help-seeking behaviour. Those who sought multiple services were more likely to be female and suffer also from physical illness. Non help-seekers were more frequently males, with no history of having previously sought help or communicated their intent to anyone. They also appeared at greater risk of using more lethal methods (hanging) and less likely to express mental health concerns at the time of the attempt. These findings underline the need to further understand the relationship between lethality, suicide intent and help-seeking behaviour. Improving motivation to seek treatment after a suicide attempt could substantially impact on suicide prevention success efforts.