S01.04 - Is education enough for preventing suicide? the Gotland study and beyond

Abstract

During the eigthies an educational project on the recognition and treatment of depressive disorders was carried out in the swedish island of gotland, an island and Swedish count of dramatic societal transition and afflicted by the highest suicidality in sweden at that time. The educational intervention resulted in a decrease of suicides to the lowest figures in sweden, however mainly in females.

After a psychological authopsy of all persisting male suicides, that could not be reached due to their not -helpseeking behaviour and their lack of contact with the health care system, new educational efforts on gotland were completed with a focus on males suicidality, using the ad hoc constructed "Gotland male depression scale" as a main tool in an approach directed even to other societal structures on gotland than the health care system. During the nineties, consequently,even male suicidality decreased on Gotland for the first time. Since than, the "Gotland Study" of educating GPs as a suicide preventive effort in suitable endemic suicide regions has been widely spread and replicated in many countries, regions, and populations of societal transition, often with positive results. Educating GPs according to the Gotland Model is today considered to be one of the essential measures that should be offered in comprehensive,multimodal and multisectorial national programs of suicide prevention.