Digital world contributing to high rates of suicide

According to mental health experts digital technology is helping contribute to rising suicide rates in the UK. 

The warning comes as the country mark this year’s Mental Health Awareness Day, which this year is focusing on suicide prevention. 

In April 2025, for every 100,000 people in the UK, about 9 died by suicide. Men were much more likely to die by suicide than women: for men it was about 14 per 100,000, while for women it was about 4 per 100,000. The age group with the most suicides was people between 45 and 64 years old. People aged 25 to 44 had the next highest rate. The lowest rates were among teenagers and young adults (ages 10 to 24), but more young women under 25 are dying by suicide than before. 

Among young people (10–24 years), the suicide rate for April 2025 was lower than the same month in previous years, but there have been spikes in some months. The main methods used in suicides were hanging or suffocation (55%), followed by poisoning (23%). These numbers show that while the overall rate has not changed drastically month by month, suicide remains a serious concern—especially for men, middle-aged people, and the growing number of young women affected. Social isolation, financial difficulties, and access to harmful material online are believed to be making things worse for many people. 

Shelley Perry - Clarke, Clinical Director of Flourish Therapy Clinic, which treats people with mental health issues and eating disorders said: “There isn’t one issue that’s driving increasing suicide rates, every case is different, however a combination of factors certainly contributes, meaning people are less resilient to deal with problems. 

“In today’s society we have increased loneliness and isolation, which is partially due to a breakdown in community and family units, structures and support mechanisms. This is further increasing in the digital age, especially as children younger than ever before now have access to handheld technology such as iPads, which encourages and enables play and time to be spent alone, rather than with other people. Furthermore, young people have access to pornography, violence and other content and materials at a much younger age. We have become desensitized to all of these things and yet the psychological impact is enormous.” 

According to Shelley, this combined with inadequate and under-resourced mental health and social services, which aren’t able to provide sufficient early intervention for people, means issues are going undiagnosed and people who are having problems simply fall through the net. 

Shelley wants to see a marked change to help deal with the rising problems. She said: “It will be hard to tackle some of the root causes that create depression, but the key is building resilience. To do that there’s a number of things that can be done from a health service perspective, from working with employers and GPs on identifying people who need support to understanding what treatment and support is available to them.” 

Shelley also believes more investment is needed to provide therapies and treatment for children, young people and adults.  

“At the moment mental health treatment is underfunded and under resourced. External factors influencing the deliverance of services e.g. staffing, funding, number of hospital beds, means that not everybody can be seen and receive appropriate and sufficient help in a timely way to meet the recommendations in the NICE guidelines. Plenty of the population have now put their hand up saying they are not mentally well, yet the NHS is unable to meet this demand, therefore, waiting lists are increasing and during this time often an individual's mental health state deteriorates. More investment is needed but the third sector (not for profit organisations and charities) can also help, but we need to work and collaborate together.”  

Caption: Shelley Perry – Clarke, founder and Clinical Director of Flourish Therapy Clinic