Culture and suicide set points

Objective: To demonstrate the importance of culture in suicide, and provide support for fresh conceptualization of the relationship between culture and suicide.

Conclusions: This evidence supports the thesis that culture (the norms and values shared by a group of people living in a defined space) gives rise to recognizable traditions or customs (widely accepted ways of behaving), which come forward in particular circumstances (or “predicaments”), and include suicide. We propose that culture creates “set points” around, which national rates vary. Suicide prevention will only be achieved via strategies, which have a beneficial effect on culture.