Lithuania was a leading country in terms of suicide rates for many years. In the early 1990s, the country left Hungary wich had the highest rates for three decades. „Hungarian“ period changed to „Lithuanian“ period (Värnik, 2012), with average suicide rates above 40/100 000. But since 2000 suicide rates in Lithuania decreased from 47/100 000 till 20/100 000 in 2021. It gives a possibility to consider the experience of suicidologists in these processes. Studies on the effectiveness of the suicide prevention system show that the decline in suicide rates is likely to be due to other, probably social, factors rather than to the targeted development of a support and prevention system.
Where did suicidologists succeed? Mostly in primary prevention (destigmatization, successful collaboration with media, systematic education of gatekeepers etc.) Some success – in tertiary prevention (postvention): this form of rapid assistance has already been introduced in Lithuania in the education system, in the National Defence and Ministry of Interior systems, and in large business organisations. but not in the Health care system yet. Some support for those grieving after suicide, and the establishment of an association of suicide survivors. Low success – in secondary prevention. So far, the part of the suicide prevention system that is most important in the modern view of suicide prevention, namely the quality and continuity of support for suicidal people, is the weakest in Lithuania. The mental health support system is still based on a medical model rather than a modern biopsychosocial model. As a result, most of the problems are solved by hospitalisation and medication. Psychological and psychosocial interventions are still limited. After the failure to establish a National Suicide Prevention Strategy in Lithuania, suicidologists started to initiate local, municipal-level models of community response to the threat of suicide which have proved effective.
Further strategic steps still are needed as Lithuanian suicide rate is still two times higher then EU average.