Table 3.
Death wishes and existential issues
| Aspects and items | Active persistent death wish, no severe illness N = 155 (0.7% of 21,294) |
Passive persistent death wish, no severe illness N = 93 (0.4% of 21,294) |
Persistent death wish (passive/ active nature unknown), no severe illness N = 19 (< 0.1% of 21,294) |
Total group “Persistent death wish, no severe illness” (PDW-NSI) N = 267 (1.25% of 21,294) |
Answer “No” to differentiation question - Does the description “seeing no future for oneself, longing for death, while not being severely ill” apply to you? N = 20,883 (97.8% of 21,294) |
P-value PDW-NSI group vs. Diff. question = No |
P-value Active vs. Passive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duration of having a death wish | |||||||
| Whole life | 27 (17.4) | 21 (22.6) | 2 (10.5) | 50 (18.7) | N/A | N/A | 0.481 |
| A few years | 97 (62.6) | 54 (58.1) | 17 (89.5) | 168 (62.9) | N/A | ||
| Approximately one year | 31 (20.0) | 18 (19.4) | 0 (0.0) | 49 (18.4) | N/A | ||
| Characterization of the death wish | |||||||
| A desire for a natural death that just happens | 22 (14.2) | 25 (26.9) | 3 (15.8) | 50 (18.7) | N/A | N/A | 0.008 |
| A desire to not wake up tomorrow and die in my sleep | 86 (55.5) | 43 (46.2) | 9 (47.4) | 138 (51.7) | N/A | ||
| I feel my current situation is unlivable | 7 (4.5) | 2 (2.2) | 2 (10.5) | 11 (4.1) | N/A | ||
| A wish to end my life myself | 23 (14.8) | 6 (6.5) | 0 (0.0) | 29 (10.9) | N/A | ||
| A wish for a doctor to help me end my life | 8 (5.2) | 4 (4.3) | 2 (10.5) | 14 (5.2) | N/A | ||
| A wish for another professional or someone close to help me end my life | 5 (3.2) | 3 (3.2) | 0 (0.0) | 8 (3.0) | N/A | ||
| I do not know | 4 (2.6) | 10 (10.8) | 3 (15.8) | 17 (6.4) | N/A | ||
| Having made concrete plans / taken steps | |||||||
| No | 104 (67.1) | 93 (100.0) | 19 (100.0) | 216 (80.9) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Yes, namely:a | 51 (32.9) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 51 (19.1) | N/A | ||
| Decisions about end of lifeb | 24 (15.5) | N/A | N/A | 24 (8.9) | N/A | ||
| Membership of interest groupc | 14 (9.0) | N/A | N/A | 14 (5.2) | N/A | ||
| Contact with a Caregiverd | 9 (5.8) | N/A | N/A | 9 (3.4) | N/A | ||
| Searched for means to end one’s lifee | 6 (3.9) | N/A | N/A | 6 (2.2) | N/A | ||
| Searched for information | 3 (1.9) | N/A | N/A | 3 (1.1) | N/A | ||
| Attempted suicide | 2 (1.3) | N/A | N/A | 2 (0.7) | N/A | ||
| Other | 3 (1.9) | N/A | N/A | 3 (1.1) | N/A | ||
| Having seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months | |||||||
| Never | 20 (12.9) | 93 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 113 (42.3) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Once in a while | 80 (51.6) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 80 (30.0) | N/A | ||
| Now and then | 38 (24.5) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 38 (14.2) | N/A | ||
| Often | 15 (9.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 15 (5.6) | N/A | ||
| Very often | 2 (1.3) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.7) | N/A | ||
| Not willing to answer | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 19 (100.0) | 19 (7.1) | N/A | ||
| Having made a suicide attempt in the past 12 monthsf | |||||||
| No | 125 (92.6)g | N/A | N/A | 125 (46.8) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Yes | 3 (2.2) | N/A | N/A | 3 (1.1) | N/A | ||
| Not willing to answer | 7 (5.2) | N/A | N/A | 7 (2.6) | N/A | ||
| Preference not to have to experience the futureh | |||||||
| Median (Q1-Q3) | 5 (5–6) | 5 (3–6) | 6 (4–7) | 5 (4–6) | 1 (1–2) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Finding life worthwhile at this moment | |||||||
| Yes | 67 (43.2) | 56 (60.2) | 8 (42.1) | 131 (49.1) | 20,568 (98.5) | 0.000 | 0.013 |
| No | 88 (56.8) | 37 (39.8) | 11 (57.9) | 136 (50.9) | 315 (1.5) | ||
| Being weighed down by the burden of lifei | |||||||
| Median (Q1-Q3) | 5 (4–6) | 4 (3–6) | 5 (4.5–6) | 5 (3–6) | 1 (1–2) | 0.000 | 0.014 |
Results are presented as N (%) unless “Median (Q1-Q3)” is reported
Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding
Medians are reported with 25th–75th percentiles
N/A = not applicable
Statistically significant results (p < 0.05) are in bold
aN = 61 because respondents could name more than one plan/step in answering the open question
bIncludes wish or order “do not resuscitate”, wish for euthanasia in due time (in some cases recorded in an Advanced Euthanasia Directive), refraining from medical treatment (in some cases recorded in an advanced directive), having made a testament, having written down something considering end-of-life (not specified)
cInterest group concerning voluntary end of life
dIncludes receiving treatment (psychological or psychiatric)
eIncludes respondents who already obtained means to end their life
fN = 135 due to the fact that respondents who answered “never” or “not willing to answer” to the previous question (having seriously considered a suicide attempt) were not asked this question
gPercentages are based on N = 135
h7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“not at all”) to 7 (“very strong”). Respondents could also answer “I do not know”. Therefore, N = 151, N = 83, N = 16, N = 250, N = 989 (comparison group), respectively
i7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“not at all”) to 7 (“very strong”). Respondents could also answer “I do not know”. Therefore, N = 154, N = 90, N = 18, N = 262, N = 1014 (comparison group), respectively