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Is there more suicide attempts during the month of Elul/Tishrei?
Is there any evidence or data that proves the myth that the suicide rate in the Jewish community is higher during Elul and early Tishrei?
I asked about Elul because all four people I knew personally who committed suicide did so during Elul. I also once had a conversation with an Askan who runs a youth centre, who told me that during Elul/Tishrei he finds himself having to carry his phone over Shabbos because there are kids in his group on the edge of acting out. We were not sure whether it has to do with the religious pressure in the air or some kind of post-summer depression. Summer blues and disappointments about expectations over the summer.
There is research about the non-Jewish holidays have higher suicide rates due to increased experiences of loneliness.
But my thoughts are not only about loneliness. The Tishrei holidays are more fear-provoking than loneliness. I have myself spent several years studying in a country away from my family. The hardest time of feeling lonely was Chanukah.
