Community-level interventions are a key part of suicide prevention. The effectiveness of these strategies vary and objective measurement of the efficacy of these interventions are often challenging. Evidence shows that preventing access to means of suicide in the community, and ongoing education and awareness among primary care healthcare professionals about mental illness and suicide, both are effective, universal-level preventive strategies. Increasing awareness and mental health literacy among young people in schools shows promise, though most evidence is from high-income countries. Trials have demonstrated that brief follow-up contact interventions (BCI), such as sending postcards, text messages or a follow-up phone call, are effective in reducing suicidal ideation and repetition of suicide attempts.

We tend to think that we are prima facie morally entitled to determine the course of our own lives to some degree, and to make our own decisions about matters that are personal to us. Dworkin speaks of our “right to make decisions about the character of [our] lives”. Feinberg suggests that we plausibly have a personal domain over which we are “sovereign” and hence where we “alone” have the final say about “what is to happen”. And Akhlaghi defends the idea that we have a pro tanto or defeasible moral right to “autonomous self-making” – viz. a pro tanto moral right to autonomously decide to make certain “transformative choices” that will influence how our lives will go and who we will become.

This chapter considers induction, deduction and abduction as methods of obtaining scientific knowledge. The introductory section again ends by highlighting that there is no single method, and refers to claims that scientific reasoning uses various heuristics or rules of thumb based on the specific approach and the background information we have, and that we should recognise that this can introduce various errors of reasoning: by being aware of the potential for making these errors, we are better able to guard against making them. The bulk of the chapter then looks at specific logical fallacies, using neuroscience examples to illustrate them. These include ad hoc reasoning; begging the question; confusing correlation for causation; confirmation and disconfirmation biases; false dichotomies; false metaphors; the appeal to authority, tradition and emotion; the mereological fallacy; the naturalistic fallacy; and straw man arguments.

Suicide is a leading cause of death for young people (variously defined as those aged up to 24-29 years) worldwide. Non-fatal self-harm, which we define as including all intentional acts of self-poisoning (e.g., intentional drug overdoses, ingestion of products not intended for human consumption) or self-injury (e.g., self-cutting) regardless of degree of suicidal intent or other types of motivation is more common. In this chapter, we do not distinguish between attempted suicide and non-fatal self-injury as there is a high degree of co-occurrence between the two behaviours, particularly in young people.

Thus far, we have largely considered technologies that are capable of changing persons’ mental states. However, today, a range of technologies are also being developed that can gain insight into the mental realms of others. One example is the measurement of brain activity, which has enabled researchers to make inferences about individual mental states and faculties. In particular, fMRI and EEG can measure brain activity in a way that allows for inferences about what a person remembers, recognises, thinks or feels. EEG has been used, for example, to identify concealed memories about a criminal offence; and fMRI has been used to reveal sexual orientation, political ideology or a person’s craving for cocaine. Recently, various research groups used neurotechnology together with emerging forms of artificial intelligence (AI) to decode mental content from brain activity, with some interesting first results. According to Brownsword, with the development of these kinds of “brain-reading” technologies, “researchers have a window into the brains and, possibly, into a deeper understanding of the mental lives of their participants”.

Suicide and suicide attempts ravage societies and are now considered a top priority on the Global Health Agenda. In Ghana, lack of systematic reporting and recording hamper genuine efforts to prevent the problem. Among the many factors militating against progress in this direction is the strong taboo associated with suicidal behaviours in general and the criminalisation of suicide attempts in particular [1].

Evidence is essential to suicide prevention. Delay until the evidence base is complete is not possible, so cautious advice must be given to policy makers on imperfect evidence. This means recognising uncertainty, including the risk that the advice may cause more harm than good. Evaluation during implementation is critical but frequently neglected. The UK has a system of nationwide statistics, supplemented by a National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) into all apparently suicidal deaths during or after mental health care. In addition, there are recently devised real-time statistics of suspicious deaths. There is a system of self-harm registers, independent of official systems. These systems have generated unusually good information on suicidal deaths and self-harm, leading to tangible improvements. However, like all evidence, it is still imperfect.

Men comprise the majority of those who die of suicide [1]. This pattern is often taken as an indication that suicide is a male behaviour and a male problem, and that men are naturally and perhaps inevitably more prone to suicide than women (see Canetto’s studies in 1992–3 and 2021 [2,3] and Kushner’s 1993 study [4] for critical analyses of this idea).

Suicide, however, is not always more common in men than in women when the data is examined over time, by country and within country by age groups. For example, as recently as 2012, men were less likely to die of suicide than women in China, Indonesia, Iraq and Pakistan [5]. These countries compose a major proportion of the global population, so their suicide patterns cannot be dismissed as minor exceptions. Also, currently, in some countries, men are less likely to die of suicide than women in certain age groups.

In China, the public has gradually shifted its focus from GDP growth to quality-of-life issues, presenting new challenges for the government. Food safety, as a prominent concern, exemplifies this shift. This chapter examines the impact of food safety issues on ordinary Chinese citizens’ trust in the government and their perceptions of governmental responsibility. The findings indicate that food safety problems diminish public trust in both central and local governments; however, this negative effect is mitigated among individuals with lower levels of education. Furthermore, the Chinese public is inclined to attribute primary responsibility for food safety crises to the central government rather than local authorities when assessing the severity of these issues. These results highlight the political implications of food safety concerns in China.