No shame in feeling despair

Last month, the world was rocked by the death by suicide of Hollywood legend Robin Williams. Tomorrow is World Suicide Prevention Day and his passing reminded us that depression and desperation can affect anyone.

Suicide was always a taboo subject but thankfully times have changed. Society has realised that in order to reach out and help people who are struggling on the brink, the topic needs to be discussed openly, and those who are suffering need to know there is no shame in feeling despair.

Psychologist Joan Freeman is the chief executive of Pieta House, a not-for-profit organisation that offers a free, therapeutic approach to people who are in suicidal distress and those who engage in self-harm.

She says creating awareness about the reasons people feel suicidal and what can be done to help is a vital step towards reducing or even eradicating the stigma attached to mental health issues of this kind.

“World Suicide Prevention Day tries to focus the efforts from organisations across the world in highlighting this problem and creating awareness,” she says. “Pieta House brought this annual event to the Irish people a number of years ago and we have extended it to an annual suicide awareness week.

“Suicide rates vary and are very dependent on the economic climate. For example, when Ireland experienced the downturn in recent years, the suicide rates increased.

“Correct reporting has also been a problem over the years; in particular, under-reporting. As this improves, it would appear that suicide rates have increased but this just reflects the implementation of better reporting systems.”

Freeman says difficulties facing people vary depending on age and gender, and Pieta House aims to have enough centres to facilitate everyone who needs help at any given time. “For men it seems to be quite clear: anything concerned with their work, whether it’s unemployment, retirement, redundancy or collapse of their business, is the issue they find [most] difficult to cope with,” she says. “Second is the loss of a significant relationship, whether through death or breakup.

“For women, particularly those in the 45-60 age bracket, their issues seem to be around loss, whether it’s empty nest, loss of confidence, loss of youthfulness and possibly relationship breakdown.

And our younger people tend to react to difficult situations in their life and have an impulsive reaction to these difficulties.

“Pieta House provides crisis intervention to those who are suicidal and self-harming. This free, professional service deals with people from as young as six years of age to people in their 80s.

“Last year alone, Pieta House helped more than 4,000 people. We have nine centres throughout the country and our vision is to expand our service to make it accessible to every community. Our promise is to educate every person in Ireland by teaching them the signs and symptoms of suicide.”

The acronym Signs is a simple list of factors to look out for:

Sleep disturbance

Isolation

Giving away possessions

No interest in anything

Speaking of no future

Catherine Brogan, executive director of the Samaritans, says World Suicide Prevention Day is an important opportunity for us to remember those who have died and to have a conversation about suicide.

“Talking about suicide is very important,” she says. “In the past, suicide was not discussed in Ireland and, as a result, people did not know where to turn for help and support.

“Suicide is a complex issue and often there isn’t one reason a person would choose to take their life. It can be the result of problems building up to the point where they can see no other way to cope with what they’re experiencing. Talking about suicide helps us understand the reality of suicide in Ireland and what we can do to prevent it. It also raises awareness about the supports that are available to people in crisis.”

Almost 400,000 people contacted the Samaritans in Ireland last year and its director says while this may seem like a shocking figure, the problems facing people are no different to half a century ago.

“The issues people contact Samaritans about have remained pretty consistent over the past 60 years,” she says. “Our role is to listen to people talk about job stresses, being out of work, money troubles, family struggles, relationship issues, trying to measure up, feeling alone, feeling worthless, feeling sad or angry all the time, getting into trouble, being abused, feeling suicidal, or needing to drink to get through the day.

“Today the telephone is still the main way to talk to us, but emails and text messages are increasing rapidly. People can talk to the Samaritans any time, in their own way about whatever is getting to them. They do not have to be suicidal, there is no typical person who calls Samaritans’ helpline and there is no typical problem that people talk to us about.”

See pieta.ie to find your nearest centre

Visit samaritans.org or call 116 123