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Is Suicide Seasonal?

Tim Harford asks which times of the year are riskiest for suicide, and whether computers could help identify people at risk of killing themselves.

A listener writes to ask whether January is the riskiest month for suicides. Tim Harford discusses what the data can tell us with Nav Kapur, professor of psychiatry and population health at the University of Manchester.

And could we predict suicide? Tim talks to Jessica Ribeiro of Florida State University about whether machine learning could eventually help identify people at risk of killing themselves.

If you are struggling, wherever you are in the world, you can go to the Befrienders International website to find support in your country: www.befrienders.org

Producer: Phoebe Keane

(Credit: Ice formation with fallen leaves along path. Credit: Getty images)

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Tue 29 Jan 2019 02:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 26 Jan 2019 05:50GMT
  • Mon 28 Jan 2019 13:50GMT
  • Tue 29 Jan 2019 02:50GMT

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