Import note that the study does actually not compare alternative suicide-prevention strategies. It is a meta study of mean restriction and not a meta study of suicide-prevention strategies. It does not compare the effectiveness of healthcare, reducing risk factors, hotlines and others suicide-prevention strategies.
If someone still wants to kill themselves, but cannot because all means have been eliminated, have you solved any problems?
I'm honestly not sure that I'd argue it doesn't increase quality of life, but using suicide prevention as an outcome seems superficial to me.
One point made in the linked article is that identifying risk in individuals isn't something we've found a good way to do. If we know who needs help, helping them is better than removing a fan. But we usually don't know who needs help, despite a variety of sensible-seeming approaches to figuring it out.
There's still an argument that aside from the individual level, we should address things at the societal level: what socioeconomic forces contribute to people being in tough situations where suicide seems like the only way out, and how can we change those socioeconomic forces?
That's a great question and a great place to focus our energy. And, while we're working on changing the world in bigger ways, we can make it a safer place.
Food for thought.
Symptoms are caused by underlying disease. If you have people killing themselves in excessive numbers, one should not look at the means they employed as the problem. Doing so, is having a hammer, therefore the nail (removal of the offending thing, in this case the instrument of suicide.)
Treat. The. Disease. Why are they suicidal?
Overly high standards/expectation? High stress? Corrupt systems? Social stigma? Failure to teach/communicate/cross cultural divides? Miscalibrated assessment methodologies? Lack of opportunity or alternatives in the face of failure? Physical stressors? Bad nutrition, poor food, unsafe environment?
To stop at "just get rid of offensive thing" in this particular case is to indulge in willful ignorance of the root cause of suicidal ideation; the final conclusive cessation of suffering. What is causing them to suffer?
Relieve that. Engage in 2nd and higher order thinking.
