Suicide+and+Drug+Use


 * Suicide and Heroin Use: Are they linked? **

Many opiate users have struggle with mental health issues such as affective, anxiety and personality disorders. These disorders can be provoked by substance use or by consumption of multiple substances. Users tend to have higher rates of death by suicide whether it is an intentional or accidental overdose. Heroin users have a death rate of thirteen times that of their peers, and deaths within heroin addicts attributed to a suicide range from 3-35%.

Overall, studies show that heroin users are fourteen times more likely to die from suicide than their peers. Heroin users have extremely wide exposure to factors such as, psychopathology, family dysfunction and social isolation. They also have others risks specifically associated with heroin and other drug use.

It is common for a history of attempted suicide to exist among opiate users, and among female methadone maintenance patients in as well. Nearly 50% of all patients interviewed reported current suicidal thoughts, and 61% reported some degree of hopelessness about the future. This is particularly relevant, as it is a strong predictor of future suicidal behaviors. This is reinforced by the finding that 16% of those who had attempted suicide believed they would do so again. Overall, suicide is a major clinical issue among heroin users.