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That one study only tells us that smaller paracetamol package size may have resulted in fewer paracetamol OD suicides. It says nothing about the impact it had o

That one study only tells us that smaller paracetamol package size may have resulted in fewer paracetamol OD suicides. It says nothing about the impact it had on other methods of suicide. Or how the decline of that specific method of suicide compared to the number of suicides by other methods. If other methods of suicide also declined during that same period, one could reasonably conclude that suicide was on the decline anyway and would have declined even without changing paracetamol package size (perhaps because the economy improved or unemployment declined or any number of things that can lead more people to depression and suicide). However, if other methods of suicide increased during that same period, one could reasonably conclude that people simply found another suicide method "easier" than paracetamol OD. I don't know either way... but that article certainly leaves a lot of other factors unchecked.

DanBC 14y ago
The Oxford studies are pretty clear that people tend to chose one method, and a small delay in that method prevents them from completing suicide. People tend not to use anything available to kill themselves. Most houses have many things which could cause certain death, but people tend to stick to a certain method.
- aidenn0 14y ago
  I absolutely agree that suicides would decline for a period of time, since guns are the first thought for most men considering suicide. However, once it is no longer the primary way of suicide, something else would replace it. In Japan, the first thought for most men is not a gun, but a train.