WASHINGTON: More than half of 26,000 students surveyed across 70 colleges and universities across the US admitted having at least one episode of suicidal thinking at some point in their lives. Furthermore, 15 per cent of them reported having seriously considered attempting suicide and more than five per cent reported making a suicide attempt at least once in their lifetime.

The survey was administered in early 2006 and gathered information about a range of suicidal thoughts and behaviours among college students. The survey was reviewed by the campus counselling directors as well as two experts in suicidology. Six per cent of undergraduates and four per cent of graduates reported seriously considering suicide within the 12 months prior to answering the survey. Therefore, the researchers posit, at an average college with 18,000 undergraduate students, some 1,080 undergraduates will seriously contemplate taking their lives at least once within a single year. Approximately two-thirds of those who contemplate suicide will do so more than once in a 12-month period. The majority of students described their typical episode of suicidal thinking as intense and brief, with more than half the episodes lasting one day or less. The researchers found that, for a variety of reasons, more than half of students who experienced a recent suicidal crisis did not seek professional help or tell anyone about their suicidal thoughts.

Both undergraduate and graduate students gave these reasons for their suicidal thinking, in the following order —

1.Wanting relief from emotional or physical pain

2.Problems with romantic relationships

3.The desire to end their life; and

4.Problems with school or academics.

Fourteen per cent of undergraduates and eight per cent of graduate students who seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous 12 months made a suicide attempt. Nineteen per cent of undergraduate attempters and 28 per cent of graduate student attempters required medical attention. Half of attempters reported overdosing on drugs as their method, said the authors. From the survey, the authors found that suicidal thoughts are a frequently recurring experience akin to substance abuse, depression and eating disorders. They also

found that relying solely upon the current treatment model, which identifies and helps students who are in crisis, is insufficient for addressing reducing all forms of suicide behavior on college campuses.

These findings were presenting at the 116th Annual Convention of the American Psychological

Association, by psychologist David J Drum, and co-authors at the University of Texas, based on a survey conducted by the National Research Consortium of Counselling Centres in Higher Education.