Have Lockdowns Caused Suicides During COVID-19?

The evidence behind a contentious point

Stock photo results for lockdowns appear to be mostly fireplaces, which is an interesting choice. Source: Pexels

CW: Suicide, Mental Health, Lockdowns. If this blog raises issues for you, here is a list of international helplines where you can get some help.

This year has been a hard one, there is no doubt. Usually, we get to December and I’m writing articles about Christmas cake and losing weight, or whether you’ll stick to your new year’s resolution, or perhaps summing up the fun and games of bad science reporting in the last 12 months.

Instead, we’re here talking about suicide. Not an easy topic.

To cheer you up during this hardest of articles, I will be smattering kittens throughout. Source: Pexels

There has been a common claim throughout this year, repeated endlessly by COVID-19 denialists and anti-regulation activists, that any form of government restriction will cause horrible waves of suicide. Many earlier in the year took to saying that there would be a “tsunami” of suicides due to lockdowns, as declines in mental health during COVID-19 began to become apparent.

Now, while suicide data often takes time to accumulate, a number of published studies and government reports are out looking at the question of whether lockdowns have been…