Over half a million young Canadians have contemplated suicide

A new study released by Statistics Canada found that 11% of young Canadians between 15 and 24 met the criteria for depression in their lifetime and 14% have had suicidal thoughts.

For those who were depressed, their symptoms had commonly interfered with social life, close relationships and attending school. An average of 25 days of regular activities were missed in the previous year because of the symptoms of depression alone.

Severe depression has been shown to be associated with suicidal behaviour, ranging from thoughts to plans to attempts and deaths. Half of those 15-24 who met the criteria for lifetime depression reported that they had suicidal thoughts at some point. This represented 5% of Canadians ages 15-20, or about 234,000.

There are other reasons youth might have suicidal thoughts unrelated to depression including stress and negative social behaviours like bullying. Overall, 14% of 15- to 24-year-olds reported having suicidal thoughts at some point in their life, and 6% had such thoughts in the previous year.

In that time, suicide was the second leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 24.

In their lifetime, 5% of young Canadians had made a suicide plan; 2% had made such a plan in the previous year. The percentage who reported making a suicide attempt at some time in their life was 4%.

Depression and suicidal thoughts were more common among young women than young men.

About 36% of those with lifetime suicidal thoughts and 42% of those with lifetime depression, said they consulted a professional source for mental health support during the previous year. Young women were more likely than young men to seek professional mental health support.

Among Canadians aged 15 to 29 with lifetime depression or suicidal thoughts, 60% sought informal help, like friends and family.