Prague, Sept 18 (CTK) – Czech psychiatrists are going to analyse data on suicides in the country in order to reveal places in which suicides are often committed and propose measures to decrease the popularity of the suicide hotspots, daily Lidove noviny (LN) wrote on Monday.
Fences may be built in these places, camera systems may be installed there or guards may monitor them, the paper writes.
Within a social psychiatry research programme, the National Institute of Mental Health (NUDZ) will check data on suicides committed on railways that it received from the Czech railway network administrator (SZDC).
Alexandr Kasal, from the NUDZ, said it is not absolutely certain whether there are any suicide hotspots in the Czech Republic.
The Nusle Bridge in Prague, which was opened in 1973, was dubbed the bridge of the suicides. The precise numbers are not known, but more than 200 or 300 people jumped from the 42.5-high bridge before barriers were built on it in 2007.
Before the opening of the Nusle Bridge, a road crossing over the railway in Klanovice, a suburb of Prague, was considered popular among suicide jumpers, LN writes.
Kasal said foreign studies showed that signs offering consulting services for people in a crisis helped curb the suicides committed in the given locations, apart from physical barriers and monitoring the place.
Some studies showed that such measures lowered the suicide rate and did not just force the people to move to another place and commit suicide there, Kasal told the paper.
He said it is difficult to know for certain why people commit suicide, however, mental illnesses often play a role, especially depression and disorders related to alcohol drinking.
The total number of suicides committed in the Czech Republic started steadily falling in the 2000s, but after 2008 it began to increase again. In 2015, 1384 people, committed suicide in the country with 10.5 million inhabitants. Most of these suicide fatalities were men – 1130.
Suicide is the second most common cause of death among young Czechs, but the country has no general prevention programme, NUDZ spokesman told CTK earlier this month.
Psychiatrist Cyril Hoschl said the suicide rate in the country is above the European Union and world average, yet it is the lowest in Czech history.
About 15 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants are committed a year in the Czech Republic, while the EU average is 14.
Hoschl said the increase in the suicide rate of young Czechs is a fresh phenomenon and it is not possible to reveal its causes yet. He said this increase may merely be a temporary reversal.
