China's overall suicide rate plummets (4)

"But they blow off steam pretty easily and they're a little more impulsive than others. In an acute crisis, they're going to respond in a dramatic way."

In cities, pesticides are used less frequently in suicides and attempts. Ingesting medications, hanging, jumping off buildings and drowning are more common.

One factor that has kept suicide rates from falling even more, however, is a lack of services for those in crisis.

In many places psychologists aren't trained adequately. Universities may have counseling clinics, but parents often are reluctant to send their children. "They're afraid they're going to be kicked out, which in some schools has actually happened. School authorities may be so fearful of suicide they'll tell a troubled student ... to go home."

It was only late last year that Shanghai got its first 24-hour suicide hotline, run by the nonprofit Life Education and Crisis Intervention Center.

Phillips says a new mental health law that took effect on May 1 should be "a game-changer."

The law standardizes mental health services, requiring general hospitals to set up special outpatient clinics or provide counseling, and calls for the training of more doctors about psychological problems. It allows police to send people for mental health screenings, but prohibits involuntary commitment, except for those with a severe mental illness or who are a danger to themselves or others.

Suicide in China

Suicide has become one of the top cause of death for people aged 15 to 24 in China, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But, unlike in many countries, Chinese youth do not have the nation's highest suicide rates.

The highest suicide rates in China are among the elderly and rural women.

About two-thirds of suicides occur in rural areas. That's not as high as 20 years ago, when the rural-urban ratio was 3 to 1, but still higher than in the West, where rural and urban suicide rates are comparable.

Rates for women used to be 25 percent higher than for men. They have dropped to about the same level and very high rates for rural women have dropped. But rates for women are still higher than in the West, where male suicide rates are two to four times higher than the female rates.

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