Nowe możliwości efektywnego zapobiegania samobójstwom
New possibilities for effective prevention of suicides

Summary/Abstract: Although more than 120 years have passed since the first scientific work on suicide was published, humanity is still struggling with the problem of effectively reducing their number and counteracting self-destructive behavior. The WHO reports from 2010 and 2014 indicate that suicide prevention, directions and areas of preventive actions, but at the same time stipulate that – with a few exceptions – they are unable to define unequivocally proven preventive methods. This work, based on the analysis of the latest literature, shows the upcoming changes in the way of looking at the possibilities of such prevention. The data suggest that the problem of suicide prevention cannot be effectively solved without changing the paradigm and focusing on new technologies. The current paradigm, based on the so-called causal modeling, does not work when diagnosing the threat of suicide, because this problem is too complex. Hence, it is proposed to use a large amount of data (mainly from biological material) and based on them, using machine learning, to create appropriate diagnostic algorithms. In the future, appropriate smartphone applications should be used to guide patients at risk of suicide. The described program “Zero Suicide” draws attention to the organizational needs of preventive therapy and appropriate motivation of people participating in it. The summary of the thesis contains the idea that, unfortunately, as in many other health issues, also on the prevention of suicide, success will depend not on the effort of researchers and clinicians as to the good will and common sense of political decision makers.

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