Humidity-Suicide Link: Climate Change Affects Mental Health, Suicide Rates

Climate change poses a great challenge today more than ever as its consequences are being exposed not only to the environment but to biological subjects as well, such as the mental health of humans.

As the paper in Frontiers reported, experts hypothesize that rising temperatures, heatwaves, natural calamities, humidity, the loss of forest, disappearance of rivers and deserts can directly and indirectly affect physical and mental health. However, there are only a few studies that examine the relationship between climate change and mental health.

Climate Change Affects Mental Health: How Does Global Warming Affect Suicide Rates? Pixabay

Humidity-Suicide Link: Examining Heat-Humidity and Self-Harm Rates

A new study titled "Correlating Heatwaves and Relative Humidity With Suicide (Fatal Intentional Self-Harm)" published in Scientific Reports, examines heat-humidity and self-harm rates. The research suggests that increasing relative humidity is correlated with reported suicide rates than only heatwaves.

Psychology Today reported that women are more affected than men, as well as young people ages 5 to 14 years old. Researchers used the data of heatwaves, relative humidity, population, and recorded suicide rates or fatal intentional self-harm that covered 60 countries from 1979 to 2016.

What's the Difference Between Suicide and Fatal Intentional Self-Harm?

The team identified that one of the challenges they faced was differentiating suicide and fatal intentional self-harm since the former is highly stigmatized and is not always reported and recorded. Meanwhile, the International Classification of Diseases has been defining "intentional self-harm" as a category divided into fatal and nonfatal.

However, survivors might not admit intentional self-harm and those who kill themselves might not have been clear about their intention. That leads them back to their problem of identifying the connection between self-harm behavior and mental health and well-being as it is not always clear or straightforward.

Men and Women's Mental Health Affected Differently by Climate Change

As Psychology Today reported, women's mental health is more affected by climate change, particularly by the relative humidity, but this might be as much cultural and psychological.

Men are more reluctant to seek mental health care, which might reduce their diagnosis rate. On the other hand, women's diagnosis rates might also be undercalculated when they are seen as hysterical or irrational rather than needed mental health support. But other differences also exist because women's and men's bodies have different responses to temperature.

Researchers noted that although their study confirms that heat-humidity impacts suicide and intentional self-harm, climate change should ever be considered as a sole factor. Rather, it suggests that climate change significantly affects health, which is an approach related to environmental determinism that presumes that a specific environmental change must lead to a certain health outcome.

They also emphasize the importance of health systems in the prevention and interventions of suicide and intentional self-harm, where training for mental health and well-being is poor.