BEIRUT, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Around 200 people committed suicide in Lebanon in 2018 compared to 143 in 2017, reported by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper, on Wednesday.

"Around 1,500 attempted to commit suicide in 2018, equivalent to 4 suicide attempts per day," it said.

Mia Atwi, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Embrace, a non-governmental organization and awareness support network for people with mental illnesses, attributed suicide in Lebanon to mental illnesses.

"Around 90 percent of people who commit suicide suffer from mental illnesses including depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol overdose," she told Xinhua.

Most of the people who tend to commit suicide also have personal problems along with these mental illnesses, Atwi added.

Men in Lebanon commit suicide twice as much as women because they use more effective means for suicide, she noted.

Embrace, developed the first suicide prevention hotline in Lebanon which operates seven days a week, has a team of highly trained operators who provide suicide risk assessment and emotional support.