Riscul de suicid în timpul pandemiei de COVID-19

Although it is still too early and uncertain to accurately predict the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide rates, the main principles guiding suicide prevention during the pandemic are that 1) suicide is preventable, 2) the time for action for mental health is now, and 3) the worldwide concerted efforts ensure a better outcome. Although a unique universal effect of pandemic on suicide is unlikely, the current data suggest that the impact will vary over time and can depend on individual socioeconomic context, ethnicity and mental health, country economic power, and global collaborations to actively promote resilience and effective response, such as the International COVID-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration.We need to address both emerging risk factors, and the potential increase of pre-pandemic risk factors for suicide. Moreover, the effective tackling of the issue requires a better understanding of the preexisting trends in suicide rates, more effective and comprehensive assessment tools, effective adjustment of previous evidence-based prevention strategies to the pandemic context, and the effective inclusion of social risk factors generating inequities in access to resources and care. Most universal strategies for suicide prevention are government-based, while selective and indicated strategies dwell on appropriate government funding of mental and social health care services; hence, the key role of policies driven by global collaborative research and spearheaded by governments in the effective tackling of suicide prevention during the pandemic. In Romania, the pandemic increased the impact of preexisting societal and community risk factors, along with barriers to appropriate family, community and professional help. Therefore, TelVerde Antisuicide emerges as an important means for suicide prevention. This resource provided by the Romanian Alliance for Suicide Prevention (a non-governmental organization) significantly improves suicide prevention on all levels, thus contributing to filling the gap created by the lack of a national, government-driven suicide prevention strategy.