More people died from suicide in Japan in a month than from COVID-19 in all of 2020

More people died from suicide in Japan in October than from COVID-19 in all of 2020. The pandemic has had the most impact on women. Why is this happening, the publication said CNN.

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Four attempts

Eriko Kobayashi tried to commit suicide four times.

The first time, she was just 22 years old, working full-time in publishing, and didn't have enough money to cover her rent and grocery bills in Tokyo. “I was really poor,” said Kobayashi, who spent three days unconscious in the hospital after the first incident.

Now 43-year-old Kobayashi has written books about her struggles with mental health and has a full-time job at an NGO. But the coronavirus brought her back to her previous stressful state.

“I took a pay cut and I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “I constantly feel a crisis that could put me back into poverty.”

Experts warned that the pandemic could lead to a mental health crisis. Mass unemployment, social exclusion and anxiety affect people around the world.

On the subject: One in five COVID-19 patients develop mental illness: study

In Japan, government statistics show that in October alone, suicide claimed more lives than COVID-19 in an entire year. The monthly suicide rate in Japan rose to 2153 in October, according to the National Police Department of Japan. And the total number of COVID-19 cases in Japan was 2087.

Japan is one of the few major economies that discloses suicide data on a timely basis—the most recent national data for the United States, for example, is from 2018. The Japanese data could give other countries insight into the impact of pandemic measures on mental health and which groups are most vulnerable.

“We didn't even have a quarantine, and the impact of COVID-19 is very minimal compared to other countries... and yet we are seeing such a big increase in suicides,” said Michiko Ueda, an assistant professor at Waseda University in Tokyo and a suicide expert. “This suggests that other countries may see similar or even greater increases in suicide rates in the future.”

Implications of COVID-19 for women

Japan has long been struggling with one of the highest suicide rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization. In 2016, Japan's suicide death rate was 18,5 per 100, second only to South Korea and almost double the global average of 000 per 10,6.

Although the reasons for Japan's high suicide rates are complex, long work hours, school pressures, social isolation and cultural stigma about mental health problems have been cited as contributing factors.

But in the 10 years to 2019, Japan's suicide rate had been falling, falling to 20 last year, according to the health ministry, the lowest figure since the country's health authorities began keeping the count in 1978.

The pandemic appears to have reversed this trend, and the rise in suicide has disproportionately affected women. Although they represent a smaller proportion of the total number of suicides than men, the number of women who have committed suicide is increasing. In October, the number of suicides among women in Japan increased by almost 83% over the same month the previous year. For comparison, over the same period, the number of suicides among men increased by almost 22%.

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There are several possible reasons for this. Women make up a larger percentage of part-time workers in hotels, food service and retail, where layoffs have been significant. Kobayashi said many of her friends were laid off. “Japan ignores women,” she said. “This is a society in which the weakest people are the first to be cut off when something bad happens.”

In a global study of more than 10 people by the nonprofit international relief organization CARE, 000% of women reported an increase in mental health problems during a pandemic, compared with 27% of men.

Income worries are exacerbated by the fact that women face a rapidly increasing burden of unpaid care, according to the study. For those who keep their jobs when children are sent home from school or kindergarten, mothers often take on these responsibilities as well as their normal work responsibilities.

Increased concerns about the health and well-being of children have also added an additional burden to mothers during the pandemic.

Akari, 35, who did not want to give her real name, said she sought professional help earlier this year when her son was hospitalized for six weeks. “I was very worried,” Akari said. “I didn’t have any mental illness before, but I felt very, very anxious all the time.”

As the pandemic intensified, her stress worsened and she worried that her son would contract COVID-19.

“I felt like there was no hope, I felt like I was always thinking about the worst-case scenario,” she lamented.

"A place for you"

In March, Koki Ozora, a 21-year-old university student, opened a 200-hour mental health hotline called Anata no Ibasho (A Place for You). He said the hotline, a nonprofit funded by private donations, receives an average of more than XNUMX calls a day, and the vast majority of callers are women.

“They lost their jobs, they have children to raise, but they don’t have money,” Ozora said. “Many tried to commit suicide.”

On the subject: They are dying not only from COVID-19: deaths from other diseases increased during the pandemic

Most calls occur at night - from 22:00 to 04:00. The nonprofit's approximately 600 volunteers live around the world in different time zones and are ready to respond. But Ozor says there aren't enough volunteers to handle the volume of messages.

They prioritize the most important texts, looking for keywords such as suicide or sexual assault. He said they respond to 60% of messages within five minutes, and volunteers spend an average of 40 minutes with each person.

Anonymously, through online messages, people share their deepest concerns. Unlike most mental health hotlines in Japan, which take telephone inquiries, Ozora says many people, especially the younger generation, find it more convenient to seek help through text messages.

In April, he said that the most frequent messages were from mothers who were stressed about raising their children, and some confessed to thoughts of killing their own children. These days, he said, women often talk about job loss and financial hardship, as well as domestic violence.

“We received messages like, 'My father raped me,' or 'My husband tried to kill me,'” Ozora said. “Women send such messages almost every day. And their number is growing." He added that the surge in reports is due to the pandemic. In the past, there were more places to "escape" to, such as schools, offices, or friends' houses.

Pressure on children

Japan is the only G-7 country where suicide is the leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 39. Suicide rates among those under 20 were increasing even before the pandemic, according to the health ministry.

As the pandemic's restrictions take children out of school and society, Ozora said, they face abuse, stressful family life, and pressure from not doing homework. According to him, some children aged five years contacted the hotline.

On the subject: UNICEF calls children living during COVID-19 'lost generation'

School closures during the pandemic in the spring have led to a pile of homework. According to Naho Morisaki of the National Center for Child Health and Development, they have less freedom to see friends, which also contributes to stress. The center recently conducted an online survey of more than 8700 parents and children and found that 75% of Japanese schoolchildren show signs of stress due to the pandemic.

Morisaki says there is a large correlation between the anxiety of children and their parents. "Children who self-harm get stressed and then they can't talk to their family because they probably see that their mom or dad can't listen to them."

Problem solving stigma

In Japan, there is still a stigma against acknowledging loneliness and struggle. Ozora said women and parents usually begin conversations during services with the phrase, “I know asking for help is bad, but can I talk?”

Ueda says that the "shame" of talking about depression often holds people back.

“It’s not something you talk about publicly, you don’t talk about it with your friends or anyone else,” she said. “That can lead to a delay in seeking help, so that's one of the potential cultural factors we have here.”

Akari agrees with this. She previously lived in the United States, where, according to her, it is easier to seek help. “When I lived in the US, I knew people who had undergone therapy and it was common, but in Japan it is very difficult,” she said.

After the financial crisis of the 1990s, Japan's suicide rate rose to an all-time high in 2003, when about 34 people committed suicide. Experts say the shame and anxiety of layoffs, mostly by men at the time, contributed to depression and increased suicide rates. In the early 000s, the Japanese government stepped up investment and efforts to prevent suicide and support survivors, including passing the Basic Suicide Prevention Act in 2000 to support those affected by the problem.

But both Ozora and Kobayashi say that was not enough: lowering the suicide rate requires changes in Japanese society.

“Others are embarrassed to know your weakness, so you hide everything, keep it to yourself and endure it,” Kobayashi said. “We need to create a culture where we can show our weakness and unhappiness.”

Celebrity suicides

In recent months, several Japanese celebrities have committed suicide. Although Japanese media rarely detail the specifics of such deaths—deliberately avoiding dwelling on methods or motives—mere reporting of these cases often causes an increase in suicides among the general public, according to experts such as Ueda.

On the subject: The pandemic has affected people's psychological health: the effects of isolation

Hana Kimura, a 22-year-old professional wrestler and reality TV star Terrace House, committed suicide in the summer after she was bombarded with hate messages by social media users. Hana's mother, Kyoko Kimura, said she was aware that media reports of her daughter's death could have influenced other people who were already thinking about suicide.

“When Hana died, I repeatedly asked the police not to disclose any specific situation regarding her death, but I still see reports of information that only the police knew,” Kimura said. “It’s a chain reaction.”

Kimura said the pandemic caused her daughter to spend more time reading toxic social media posts as she was unable to exercise due to coronavirus-related restrictions. Kimura is now creating an organization called Remember Hana to raise awareness of cyberbullying.

“She found a reason to live by fighting as a professional wrestler. That was a big part of her. She found herself in a really difficult situation because she couldn’t fight,” Kimura said. “The pandemic has made society even more suffocating.”

third wave

Japan has reported record daily cases of COVID-19 in recent weeks as doctors warn of a third wave that could intensify in the winter months. Experts fear the high suicide rate will worsen as the economic fallout continues.

“We haven’t even experienced the full economic impact of the pandemic,” Ueda said. “The pandemic itself could get worse, and if it does, the consequences could be enormous.”

Compared to some other countries, restrictions in Japan have been relatively relaxed. The country has declared a state of emergency, but, for example, lockdown has never been imposed, and quarantine restrictions on foreign arrivals have not been as strict as in China.

On the subject: CDC statistics: from what people infected with coronavirus actually die

But as cases rise, some stricter restrictions will be needed - with experts concerned about the impact this could have on mental health.

“We didn't even have a quarantine and the impact of COVID-19 is very minimal compared to other countries... and yet we see such a big increase in suicides,” Ueda said. “This suggests that other countries may see similar or even greater increases in suicide rates in the future.”

Despite having to deal with cut wages and constant financial insecurity, Kobayashi says she is now much better at handling her anxiety. She hopes that by talking publicly about their fears, more people will do the same and realize that they are not alone before it's too late.

“I go out in public and say that I was mentally ill and suffered from depression in the hope that others can be encouraged to speak out,” Kobayashi said. — I’m 43 years old now, and life is becoming more fun. So it’s good that I’m still alive.”

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