Helpline: Suicide themed phone calls among seniors rose twofold in 2022

Czechia’s helpline for old age people (Linka seniorů) registered twice as many suicide themed phone calls in 2022 as in the year before, the daily Deník reported on Thursday, citing the helpline’s operator Elpida.

The deputy of the helpline, psychologist Klára Gramppová, told the daily that this is partially down to what she calls the “post-Covid effect”. Whereas during the pandemic most seniors were pumped with adrenalin discussing fears for their life and the availability of vaccines, they have now fallen into what she referred to as a “hole” that is not helped by current fears connected to inflation and the war in Ukraine.

Elpida has therefore launched a campaign titled “Don’t die today” (Dnes neumírej), which seeks to raise awareness about the problem of suicides among the older segment of the population. One of the reasons behind the timing is that most suicides apparently occur during the spring.