title: Controlling the environment to prevent suicide: international perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Suicide and suicidal behaviour are multifaceted events requiring complex solutions. Controlling the environment is a neglected solution, despite strong support for this approach from the World Health Organization (WHO).
  
  
  METHODS
  To discuss this approach from a global view, this review is written by authors from various cultures: American, Australian, Canadian, Chinese, Cuban, Dutch, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Lithuanian, Native North American, Russian, and South African.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We examine gun control to illustrate the environmental control approach; however, the worldwide diversity of suicide methods calls for diverse responses. Further, controlling the environment encompasses more than restricting the means of suicide, which we illustrate with examples of toned-down media reports and restricted medicine availability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Controlling the environment may be a viable strategy for preventing suicide, although research shows that few clinicians implement such approaches.
authors.affiliation: University of Leiden, The Netherlands. draalee@wincom.net
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leenaars
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cantor
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: EchoHawk
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gailiene
authors.forename: Z X
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kokorina
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lester
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Lopatin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schlebusch
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vijayakumar
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wenckstern
mesh_terms: D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D013405:Suicide / Q000208:ethnology; D000092864:Suicide Prevention