SECOND OPINION:The first thing we can do is debunk some of the myths, writes JACKY JONES
SUICIDE IS IN the news again with a plethora of articles appearing almost daily in the print media in the last fortnight. This latest round of articles kicked off following comments made by an Offaly coroner at January inquests into the deaths of five men who died by suicide. The coroner noted the “rampant and really serious situation” of rural suicide in Ireland and concluded that there is “a very serious situation abroad in the country”.
Before getting into whether there really has been an increase in the rate of suicide in Ireland, there is a point of accuracy which is worth making. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has responsibility for classifying the causes of death in Ireland and two sets of mortality data are available. These are the actual year the death occurs and the year the death is registered. The latter are provisional data until an inquest is held.
Deaths by suicide are always referred to a coroner and this can take many months, so there is an inevitable delay in determining actual suicide rates. The comments made by the Offaly coroner about a rampant suicide problem actually related to deaths which occurred during 2010.
Sensationalist comments are unhelpful and do nothing to reduce suicide rates. Coroners and others reporting on deaths by suicide would do us all a favour if they report the facts without sensationalism and also refer to what communities, friends and relations can do to help people who feel desperate. Shock and horror language is akin to showing graphic pictures of car crashes on Irish TV in the hope that this will prevent road deaths. It won’t, and that’s a fact.
Sensationalist comments raise anxiety levels in the general population and this can lead to feelings of helplessness, with people thinking there is very little we can do about suicide rates. Another worry is that virtually every recent article published has linked current suicide rates to the economic situation in Ireland. In fact suicide, although the causes are very complex and interlinked, is much more closely related to social fragmentation than it is to economics.
So what are the facts? It is estimated that suicide rates have increased in the past two years by about 24 per cent and self-harm rates by 11 per cent. The latest figures published by the CSO show that 231 people killed themselves in the first two quarters of 2010. Given that there are slightly more deaths by suicide in spring and summer, it can be estimated that the suicide rates for 2010 will be about 12 per cent per 100,000. This was 10.6 per cent in 2007 and has been gradually rising ever since. While this trend is worrying, the rate was higher in 2003 at 12.5 per cent when Ireland was doing really well economically.
In Europe as a whole, Lithuania has the highest rate at 30 per cent while Greece has the lowest at 3.5 per cent. We have to keep these figures in perspective if we want to be effective in helping people in distress and not feel powerless in the face of a seemingly intractable problem. It will be interesting to see what the 2010 rates will be for Greece given their current economic problems.
There is a lot that we can do about preventing suicide and the first thing we can do is debunk some of the myths: Myth one: People who think about suicide are mentally ill. Fact: Feelings of desperation and hopelessness are more accurate predictors of suicide than mental illness.
Myth two: People who talk about suicide aren’t really serious. Fact: They are. It is very important that anyone who talks about suicide is taken seriously. It is not attention-seeking. Myth three: A person who has tried to kill themselves is unlikely to try again. Fact: They are 100 times more likely than the general population to do so.
Myth four: Talking about suicide is a bad idea as it may put the idea into someone’s head. Fact: It won’t. By asking directly about suicide you give people permission to say how they feel.
These and other facts are outlined in the recently updated Media Guidelines for Reporting Suicide and Self-harm published by the Irish Association of Suicidology and the Samaritans, and available on nosp.ie.
There are courses and workshops provided by the HSE which can help prevent suicide and self- harm. One of these is the two-day ASIST training programme and another is the half-day SafeTALK workshop. These are the mental health equivalent of “neighbourhood watch”, and are designed to help communities, friends and relatives move beyond the tendency to miss, dismiss or avoid signs of suicide risk. So suicide is not rampant in Ireland and there is a lot we can do to ensure appropriate help is there for those who need it.
Dr Jacky Jones retired recently as regional manager of health promotion at the HSE