Facts About Maternal Suicide

Issue Brief: Maternal Suicide in the U.S.: Opportunities for Improved Data Collection and Health Care System Change

Click on an infographic to view larger and download the image to share on social media.

Recommended Citation:  
Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health. (2023, September). Maternal Suicide in the U.S.: Opportunities for Improved Data Collection and Health Care System Change [Issue Brief]. https://www.2020mom.org/issue-briefs-and-papers

Maternal Suicide Awareness Month

Key Dates:

September
Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month and Maternal Suicide Awareness Month

The First Week of September
Maternal Suicide Awareness Week – Social media awareness activities are encouraged.  

Partners can pull these facts about maternal suicide into their images and posts.

History of Maternal Suicide Awareness Week and Remembrance Vigil

The Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health (then 2020 Mom) launched the annual Maternal Suicide Awareness Week in 2018 during National Suicide Prevention Month to raise awareness about maternal suicide.

• Then, research suggested suicide was a leading cause of maternal mortality; however, data on U.S. maternal suicide was not available. Our ultimate goal was to drive action in improving the reporting of maternal suicide rates in the U.S. and implementing programs to prevent maternal suicide.  

• During this time, we hosted webinars, provided fact sheets and social media toolkits and posts, and hosted the remembrance candlelight vigil with families impacted by maternal suicide to say the names of mothers lost.

• Though the Policy Center no longer produces a social media toolkit annually, the Policy Center posts may be shared on social media, and/or facts can be pulled from our maternal suicide reference materials.

Past Maternal Suicide Social Media Awareness Campaigns:

• 2022 Campaign • 2021 Campaign • 2020 Campaign • 2019 Campaign

CDC Report on Pregnancy-Related Deaths: Data from Maternal Mortality Review Committees in 36 US States, 2017–2019

In September 2022, the CDC released a report on maternal mortality. Mental health conditions (including deaths by suicide and overdose/poisoning related to substance use disorder) were the leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related death, accounting for 23% of the deaths. More than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. Read More →

The following are resources for those working to advance maternal suicide prevention and support.

U.S. Maternal Suicide Facts Sheet

Suicide is a preventable public health problem and a leading cause of death in the United States. More investment in suicide prevention, education and research will help prevent the untimely deaths of thousands of Americans each year.

Past Maternal Suicide Webinars

The Latest in Maternal Suicide Trends Fireside Chat

Friday, September 22, 2023

Webinar link
Webinar slides

Join the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health leaders to discuss the latest trends in maternal suicide, as noted in the re-released issue brief titled Maternal Suicide in the U.S.

Maternal Suicide in the U.S., The Latest Research & Data Collection Efforts 2022

Webinar link
Webinar slides
Executive Summary of the Upcoming Report on Maternal Suicide link
Blog: CDC: Maternal Mental Health Disorders are the Leading cause of Pregnancy-Related Deaths

Maternal suicide is a leading cause of maternal mortality. With efforts made by the policy organization, 2020 Mom, and the CDC, the U.S. has made significant progress on tracking and reporting maternal suicide rates. However the work to identify maternal suicides is left to the states through reviews conducted in Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) settings. Additionally, state-based Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (PQCs) are generally charged with facilitating change based on MMRC findings.

This webinar covers:

• A general overview of maternal suicide statistics in the US

• Updated data from the CDC on Maternal Mortality Review Committees and pregnancy-related suicide deaths.

• How states are improving suicide detection in their MMRC process, including the role of informant interviews in identifying maternal suicide deaths, a process adopted by the Delaware MMRC and others

• 2020 Mom’s latest issue brief - suicide tracking and prevention

• Colorado’s latest report illustrates suicide is the top cause of maternal death, and efforts the PQC is championing

• Challenges and opportunities

Maternal Suicide in the U.S., The Latest Research & Data Collection Efforts

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Webinar link
Webinar slides

Maternal suicide is a leading cause of maternal mortality. Despite common misconceptions, pregnancy and the postpartum period do not protect against the risk of psychiatric disorders or suicide. It has become increasingly urgent and important to normalize the discussion of maternal suicide to raise awareness and double-down on maternal suicide tracking and prevention efforts. In this webinar, we will cover:

• A general overview of maternal suicide research and data collection in the U.S.

• The difference between suicide risk and suicidal ideation, including racial disparities

• Maternal suicide risk factors

• Efforts to Standardize Review by Maternal Mortality Review Committees

PRESENTERS:

2020 Mom & Zero Suicide Institute Webinar - The National Zero Suicide Initiative: Levers for Maternal Mental Health

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Webinar link
Webinar slides link

2020 Mom and our partner, Zero Suicide Institute, learned and discussed the national Zero Suicide framework, a system-wide, organizational commitment to safer suicide care in health and behavioral health care systems.
The framework is based on the realization that suicidal individuals often fall through the cracks in a sometimes fragmented and distracted health care system. A systematic approach to quality improvement in these settings is both available and necessary.
Inspired by health care systems that had seen dramatic reductions in patient suicide, the Zero Suicide began as a key concept of the 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and quickly became a priority of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance), and a project of Education Development Center's Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The U.S. health delivery system was already struggling to effectively address and prevent suicide, now with pandemic stressors expected to increase suicide rates, health systems can take action by adopting the Zero Suicide framework and tools.

Moderator:
Joy Burkhard, MBA
Executive Director, 2020 Mom

Panelists:
Julie Goldstein
Director, Zero Suicide Institute

Edwin Boudreaux, PhD
Professor, Departments of Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, and Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
University of Massachusetts Medical School

Presenters:

In this webinar, we covered the latest on suicide prevention and facts about maternal suicide, including:

• A general overview of suicide and COVID related increases

• Maternal mental health statistics including maternal suicide

• General crisis prevention efforts

• Suicide prevention efforts

View presentation slides here.

Suicide Prevention Resources

• The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has resources to assist with setting and communicating policy priorities on suicide prevention, as well as infographics to share.

• Read about CDC’s suicide prevention strategic plan, grounded in data, science, action, and collaboration.

• Explore CDC’s Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policies, Programs, and Practices for strategies and approaches with the best available evidence to prevent suicide.

• The Zero Suicide Toolkit: a detailed guide to Zero Suicide implementation and strategy.

• The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS): a flexible therapeutic framework in which patient and provider work together to assess the patient’s suicidal risk and use that information to plan and manage suicide-specific, “driver-oriented” treatment. It is a philosophy of clinical care that can be used for a wide range of suicidal patients across outpatient and inpatient treatment settings and in the context of various psychotherapies and treatment modalities.

• Care Transitions Outpatient Health Care Self-Assessment from National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention

• The Outpatient Self-Assessment is a checklist designed to help outpatient behavioral health care systems assess their policies, procedures, and practices as they compare to the Best Practices in Care Transitions for Individuals with Suicide Risk: Inpatient Care to Outpatient Care. The results of the self-assessment will help outpatient health care systems identify opportunities to improve administrative practices and clinical care.

• Outpatient Care Transitions Action Planning template from National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. The Outpatient Action Planning template was developed to translate the results of the self-assessment into action steps that will incrementally improve their overall care transitions and patient care practices.

• Suicide Safety Plan: A safety plan app that allows you to customize your own warning signs that a crisis may be developing, coping strategies for dealing with suicidal urges, places for distraction, friends and family members you can reach out to, professionals you can call, methods of making your environment safe, and your own important reasons for living.

Guide on Suicide and Serious Mental Illness

Why Screen for Maternal Suicide Risk?

Screening for maternal suicide risk is critical in both saving lives and also in preventing unintentional harm to mothers and families. Given the frequency of unwanted “intrusive thoughts” during the perinatal period, which can involve thoughts of self-harm, it’s critical that providers screen for both ideation and risk.

Screening Tools

Several suicide screening tools exist; the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) is robust in assessing for ideation and risk.

The Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) is a tool that can be used in many settings, including, community settings, medical, inpatient, and outpatient behavioral health.

The C-SSRS assesses the full range of evidence-based ideation and behavior. It can be used as an initial screener or as part of a full assessment.

Those who administer the screening for maternal mental health disorders may wish to use the C-SSRS if a person verbally discloses suicidal thoughts or answers “yes” to question 9 on the PHQ-9 or question 10 on the EPDS, for example.

Additionally, the SAFE-T Suicide Assessment Five-Step Evaluation and Triage may be utilized to understand both access to potential deadly tools and protective factors.

Download the C-SSRS or combined C-SSRS & SAFE-T tools here:

Or you can create your own screening toolbox by visiting the Columbia C-SSRS Lighthouse Project’s website.

Free Training

Though training is not required to administer the screener, it can be helpful. Training provides an overview of the C-SSRS instrument and teaches how and when to administer it in real-world settings

Watch a Pre-Recorded Webinar

Watch a webinar on your own schedule by going to the Columbia University C-SSRS Light House Project’s YouTube channel and selecting an archived webinar. They are available in 30 languages and are less than an hour long.

Safety Plan Template

A safety plan is designed to guide you through a crisis. As you proceed through the steps, you can help yourself and feel safer. Keep your plan easily accessible in case you have thoughts of hurting yourself.

Click to view the 2 page pdf.

Monitoring Federal and State Maternal Suicide Reporting Efforts

The blog posts below share our analyses of how the U.S. is progressing in its journey to report a national maternal suicide rate. Follow our blog by signing up for 2020 Mom's enews to keep abreast of the slow but steady efforts and progress being made.

Maternal Suicide: The US Should Measure What It Treasures

U.S. Has the Highest Suicide and Maternal Mortality Rates Among Wealthy Nations

Maternal Suicide Tracking in the U.S. – We’re Getting Closer

The Latest Data on Maternal Mortality (Including Suicide) in the US & CA

More Featured Blog Posts about Suicide

Suicidal, Twice – Without Warning (Psychosis – an Afterthought)

988 Designated as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline [fcc.gov]

Death by Depression, Not Suicide