Table V-7 shows college student and pathologist answers to three questions: how lethal they think various suicide methods are ("Lethality") as a percentage of attempts; how long they think it takes to die, ("Time") in minutes; and how painful they think the process is ("Agony"), on an arbitrary scale of 0 (painless) to100 (excruciating). Note that while the average student estimates were remarkably good, they had a much larger standard deviation (data not shown) than did the pathologists.

Independent estimates made by the students are compared to those by the pathologists. The rightmost column ("Real") shows actual percentage of fatalities, combining data from Card and Shneidman & Farberow (except drug fatalities, for which more recent data from New Zealand and Hawaii are used).

TABLE V-7

Perception of Lethality, Time, and Pain of Suicide Methods

Method

Dimension College student rating Pathologist rating "Real" values  
           

Carbon Monoxide

Lethality 78 71 77  

Time 79 22  

Agony 24 18  
           

Drugs

--- -- -- 3  
           

Overdose/Rx drugs

Lethality 61 12  

Time 155 129  

Agony 28 8  
           

OD/non-Rx drugs

Lethality 47 6  

Time 209 456  

Agony 30 22  
           

OD/illegal drugs

Lethality 76 49  

Time 90 116  

Agony 44 5  
           

Household toxins

Lethality 72 78  

Time 106 24  

Agony 79 54  
           

Cyanide

Lethality 91 97  

Time 37 2  

Agony 65 52
           

Guns, all

--- -- -- 85  
           

Gunshot to head

Lethality 85 97 89  

Time 10 2  

Agony 65 13  
           

Gunshot to chest

Lethality 75 90  

Time 64 7  

Agony 82 22  
           

Gunshot to abdomen

Lethality 64 65    

Time 176 69    

Agony 88 74    
           

Shotgun to head

Lethality 91 99    

Time 31 2    

Agony 70 6    
           

Shotgun to chest

Lethality 77 96    

Time 50 1    

Agony 75 16    
           

Explosives

Lethality 80 96    

Time 32 2    

Agony 79 4    
           

Electrocution

Lethality 72 66    

Time 16 2    

Agony 85 72    
           

Set fire to self

Lethality 73 76 35  

Time 42 57    

Agony 95 95    
           

Structure fire

Lethality 54 73    

Time 95 52    

Agony 87 92    
           

Cut/stab (all)

--- -- -- 5  
           

Cut throat

Lethality 74 52    

Time 38 16    

Agony 80 86    
           

Cut limbs

Lethality 44 6    

Time 103 105    

Agony 75 71    
           

Stab of chest

Lethality 62 58    

Time 97 96    

Agony 84 76    
           

Stab of abdomen

Lethality 53 12    

Time 99 252  

Agony 86 78    
           

Auto crash

Lethality 58 78    

Time 120 20  

Agony 75 30    
           

Jump from height

Lethality 80 93 42

Time 32 5    

Agony 62 18    
           

Hit by train

Lethality 98 96  

Time 9 18  

Agony 79 7    
           

Hit by truck/auto

Lethality 74 70  

Time 48 19  

Agony 81 63    
           

Hanging

Lethality 84 90 78  

Time 10 7  

Agony 66 26    
           

Plastic bag Lethality 66

23 55      

Time 10 7  

Agony 56 23  
           

Drowning

--- -- -- 75  
           

Drowning/ocean/lake

Lethality 72 63    

Time 10 18  

Agony 61 79    
           

Drowning/bathtub

Lethality 55 22  

Time 10 18  

Agony 59 79  
           

Drowning/swimpool

Lethality 63 22  

Time 18 18    

Agony 57 79    

[source: Rhyne, et al, "Dimensions of suicide: perceptions of lethality, time, and agony." Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior 25(3), 1995 pp 373-80.]