Efforts to curb access to the means to kill oneself can help, too. Suicide is surprisingly impulsive. A study of young Chinese women who had tried to kill themselves showed that three-fifths had been contemplating suicide for less than two hours, and one in ten for less than a minute. Of 515 people who had survived the leap from San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge between 1937 and 1971, 94% were still alive in 1978—which suggests that a suicide postponed is likely to be a suicide prevented.
限制自殺途徑也能有所幫助。自殺通常都是意料之外的沖動所致。一項針對試圖自殺的中國年輕女性的研究表明，五分之三的女性在不到兩個小時的時間里一直在考慮自殺，十分之一在不到一分鐘的時間里就考慮過自殺。在1937到1971年間，從舊金山金門大橋跳下去的515名幸存者，94%在1978年仍然在世——這表明推遲自殺很可能就是預防自殺。
Governments can do a lot to put self-slaughter a little further out of reach. The most toxic pesticides account for one-seventh of suicides. When South Korea outlawed paraquat in 2011, it saw a decline in suicides but no drop in agricultural output. Requiring potentially lethal medicines to be sold only in small quantities, as some countries have done with aspirin and paracetamol, has also been shown to help. But the most effective measure of all is limiting access to guns. Half of all Americans who commit suicide shoot themselves, and the overall rate in America is about twice that in Britain, which has strict gun controls. The difference in gun ownership largely accounts for the state-by-state variation in suicide rates.
各國政府可以采取更多措施讓自殺更難實現。自殺的人當中用有毒農藥的人數最多，占七分之一。2011年，韓國宣布“百草枯”為違禁品，但并沒有影響農業產出。致命的藥物規定只能以少量出售，正如某些國家限制購買阿司匹林和撲熱息痛，也起到了幫助抑制自殺的作用。但最有效的措施還是限槍。半數自殺的美國人是開槍自殺的，美國整體自殺率約為嚴格控槍的英國的兩倍。槍支擁有率的差異很大程度上解釋了各州自殺率的差異。
The media can also do their bit. Suicide is strangely contagious. When Robin Williams, an actor, killed himself in 2014, his method and motives were reported in great detail. Researchers calculated that there were 1,800 more suicides than would otherwise have been expected in the next four months, often using the same method. Journalists should cover such tragedies in less detail, and with more restraint.
媒體也可盡自己的力量。自殺有怪異的傳染性。2014年，演員羅賓·威廉姆斯自殺時，其自殺方法和動機被詳細報道。研究人員計算出，在接下來的四個月里，自殺人數比原本預計的要多出1800人，自殺方法都相同。記者在報道此類悲劇時，應少些細節，多些限制。
For a few people—those who are terminally ill, in severe pain and determined to die—suicide may be the least terrible option. In such circumstances, and with firm safeguards, doctors should be allowed to assist. But many of the 800,000 people who kill themselves each year act in haste, and more could be saved with better health services, labour-market policies and curbs on booze, guns, pesticide and pills. America, in particular, could spare much pain by learning from the progress elsewhere.
對少數人來說——那些身患絕癥、痛苦不堪、決心求死的人——自殺或許并非糟糕的選擇。在這種情況下，在有嚴格保障的前提下，應允許醫生提供協助。但每年自殺的80萬人當中，有很多在匆忙中結束自己的生命，更多人本可能會因更好的醫療服務、勞動力市場政策和對酒精、槍支、殺蟲劑和藥片的限制而挽救生命。特別是美國，可從別國吸取先進經驗，從而減輕很多痛苦。
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