Speculation and rumours about the number of people who have died by suicide during the Covid-19 lockdown period are "really unhelpful", Suicide Prevention Office director Carla na Nagara says.
Ms na Nagara told 1 NEWS the traditional approach sees suicides explained as being caused by a "one-off stress", but she says that's not the case.
Her comments come after ACT leader David Seymour claimed multiple people told him there had been a high number of suicides in Queenstown.
Earlier in the month, NewsTalk ZB's Kate Hawkesby also claimed in an opinion piece that seven families in the resort town had lost someone to suicide in recent weeks.
"It is really unhelpful to speculate about suicide numbers generally, or in particular regions, most importantly that kind of speculation isn’t contributing to suicide prevention," Ms na Nagara said.
“Speculating about numbers at a time when the country is under pressure is unhelpful.
"Certainly, I would encourage anybody to not speculate or spread rumours about suicide numbers and, in fact, encourage people to think about suicide in terms of what can we be doing to prevent it? Because focusing on numbers is not going to lower our suicide rate."
However, when asked specifically about the impact of Covid-19, Ms na Nagara said people couldn't help spreading rumours.
The Suicide Prevention Office director says a drop in suicide rates is positive, but any death is still too high. (Source: Other)
"Traditionally people approach or define suicide as being explained by some sort of one-off stress but, in fact, suicide is an accumulation of risk in the absence of strong protective factors and what we need to be doing is looking at the accumulation, stopping the risk that someone will be vulnerable to suicide if they lose their job.
"But I know that traditionally people will think that because people are losing their jobs our suicide rate will rise but I don't accept that that's an inevitability."
This morning though, annual provisional suicide statistics released by the Chief Coroner showed New Zealand's suicide rate is at its lowest in three years .
In the year to June 30, 654 people died by suicide, compared to 685 the year before.
The rates show a decrease in the number of young people dying by suspected suicide, particularly in the 15 to 19 year old range - down from 73 to 59 - and the 20 to 24 year old range - down from 91 to 60.
"Still unacceptably high, and I think it's important to remember that 654 families still lost loved ones to suspected suicides and that number is too high, but it's pleasing that it wasn't higher," Ms na Nagara said.
However, she said over recent years New Zealand's suicide rate had fluctuated, so it would take about five years to properly see a trend.
Meanwhile helplines have reported a spike in people seeking mental health help amid the pandemic.
”I think the fact that more people are accessing helplines is a good thing, it’s an indication that people know help is there and they’re reaching out for it and that’s much better than the alternative which is either not knowing that they’re distressed and not doing anything about it," Ms na Nagara said.
Online rumours gained traction earlier this month, forcing several organisations to speak out. (Source: Other)
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