Hanging is a common method for committing suicide. The materials necessary for suicide by hanging are easily available to the average person, compared with firearms or lethal poison. It is a deceptively simple yet highly effective suicide method. Full suspension is not required, and for this reason hanging is especially commonplace among suicidal prisoners. A type of hanging comparable to full suspension hanging may be obtained by self-strangulation using a ligature of the neck and only partial weight of the body (partial suspension).
In Canada, hanging is the most common method of suicide, and in the U.S., hanging is the second most common method, after firearms. In the United Kingdom, where firearms are less easily available, as of 2001 hanging was the most common method among men and the second most commonplace among women (after poisoning).
A hanging may induce one or more of the following medical conditions, some leading to death:
* Closure of carotid arteries causing cerebral ischemia
* Closure of the jugular veins
* Induction of carotid reflex, which reduces heartbeat when the pressure in the carotid arteries is high, causing cardiac arrest
* Breaking of the neck (cervical fracture) causing traumatic spinal cord injury or even decapitation
* Closure of the airway
* Death erection
