Why are Australia’s suicide rates returning to the hundred-year average, despite suicide prevention initiatives? Reframing the problem from the perspective of Durkheim

There are significant public and political concerns about the lack of progress in reducing Australian suicide rates, despite numerous national mental health plans and suicide-prevention initiatives over the past three decades. Jorm (2019) has recently invited contributions to ‘please explain’ a graph showing the changes in the Australian suicide rate since 1991 that he annotated with mental health initiatives that might have reduced suicide rates, but these initiatives do not appear to have had sustained effects in preventing suicides.