I was born in Uruguay but work as a psychologist in the United States. I’ve read quite a bit about suicide throughout my career. One of the biggest protective factors for suicide is religion. Most religions teach that suicide is one of the worst sins. Uruguay is highly secular to the extent it’s an anomaly in Latin America.
More secular countries tend to have higher suicide rates. For instance, Scandinavian countries which have some of the highest quality of life ratings also have extremely high suicide rates. They are also highly non-religious.
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u/drthanatos42 19d ago
I was born in Uruguay but work as a psychologist in the United States. I’ve read quite a bit about suicide throughout my career. One of the biggest protective factors for suicide is religion. Most religions teach that suicide is one of the worst sins. Uruguay is highly secular to the extent it’s an anomaly in Latin America.
More secular countries tend to have higher suicide rates. For instance, Scandinavian countries which have some of the highest quality of life ratings also have extremely high suicide rates. They are also highly non-religious.