Department of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Ignaz Harrer-Straße 79, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria,
Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Fall;33(3):438-445. doi: 10.24869/psyd.2021.438.
Suicide rates vary with important cycles in life, according to scientific findings and sometimes only according to lay beliefs. This paper reviews empirical studies on the association between suicides and a selection of cycles in life (the course of day, week, year, and life, menstrual cycle, and the moon phases).
Non-systematic review with a selection of key-papers and recent reviews, and analyses of Austrian daily suicide data from 1970-2017.
For the time of day, suicides occur slightly more frequently from morning to mid-day. However, among people awake, suicides peak during nighttime. For the course of the week, suicide rates increase on Mondays and decrease on weekends. Similarly, there are more suicides after major holidays. For the course of the year, suicide rates increase in spring/summer, decrease in December, are lowest on Christmas, peak on New Year's Day, and go back to about the yearly average thereafter. With respect to the life cycle, suicide rates are lowest in children and highest in elderly people, especially in men. Suicide rates increase during menstruation but not in the pre-menstruation phase. Suicide rates do not vary with moon-phases.
There is robust evidence that suicide rates vary with some cycles in human life, such as day of the week, seasons and holidays, and there is some evidence that suicides vary with time of day and the menstrual cycle. Some of the associations seem counter-intuitive but can be explained with theories of suicides and related psychosocial mechanisms (e.g., the Broken Promise Effect). Since the effects are mostly small, findings cannot easily be translated into clinical practice but they enhance our understanding of suicides nonetheless.
根据科学发现和有时只是根据常识，自杀率随生命中的重要周期而变化。本文综述了关于自杀与生命中某些周期（昼夜周期、周周期、年周期和生命周期、月经周期和月相）之间关联的实证研究。
对关键论文和近期综述进行非系统性回顾，并对 1970-2017 年奥地利每日自杀数据进行分析。
就一天中的时间而言，自杀发生的频率略高一些从早晨到中午。然而，在清醒的人中，自杀在夜间达到高峰。在一周的时间里，自杀率在星期一增加，在周末减少。同样，在主要假期之后会有更多的自杀事件。就一年的时间而言，自杀率在春季/夏季增加，在 12 月减少，圣诞节最低，元旦最高，此后又回到每年的平均水平。就生命周期而言，自杀率在儿童中最低，在老年人中最高，尤其是在男性中。自杀率在月经期间增加，但不在月经前期增加。自杀率与月相无关。
有确凿的证据表明，自杀率随人类生命中的一些周期而变化，如星期几、季节和节假日，并且有一些证据表明，自杀与一天中的时间和月经周期有关。一些关联似乎违反直觉，但可以用自杀理论和相关的社会心理机制来解释（例如，“破碎的承诺效应”）。由于这些影响大多很小，因此发现很难直接转化为临床实践，但它们仍然增强了我们对自杀的理解。
