Mental illness: Up to 60 per cent of people with schizophrenia will attempt to take their own lives at some stage and around 10 per cent of them will die by suicide, according to a report due to be published today.
Schizophrenia Ireland, which is campaigning to highlight suicide as a major issue for those who suffer from serious mental illness, will today publish a document on the issue, Supporting Life: Suicide Prevention for Mental Healthcare Service Users. According to director John Saunders, suicide is the leading cause of premature death among that section of the community.
"The reasons why people die by suicide are many and varied," said Mr Saunders. "Certain at-risk groups are more likely to attempt suicide and these include people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression," he said.
The document is being launched today in Dublin by Tim O'Malley, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, and RTÉ presenter Miriam O'Callaghan. It is part of a week-long series of events around the country organised by Schizophrenia Ireland to mark Lucia Week, a national awareness week.
The document includes an outline by Anne Callanan of the historical context of suicide prevention in Ireland, a paper on suicide and schizophrenia by Dr Jeanne-Marie Nagle of St James's Hospital and a personal account of someone with schizophrenia who tried to take his own life. There is an essay by Schizophrenia Ireland entitled Getting the Balance Right: Suicide Prevention for People with Self-Experience of Schizophrenia and also a guide of how to deal with suicidal thoughts and depression. "The most important action is to be open and confide in other people you trust or talk to a trusted health professional," says the document.
One of the myths surrounding suicide and, in particular, suicide among those who have schizophrenia or other serious mental illness, is that it is inevitable and not preventable. "It is absolutely imperative to highlight the facts that suicide is preventable and the future for people with schizophrenia has never been brighter," writes Richard Hansen in the Schizophrenia Ireland document.
This argument is borne out by the individual account of Tim, a man with schizophrenia who took an overdose in an unsuccessful attempt to take his own life.
"My depression consisted of a terrible self-loathing, deliberate avoidance of people and therefore excruciating isolation," says Tim. "I remember feeling addicted to comfort on the one hand and on the other dreading the pain that taking my own life would involve," he says. But as he describes in his testimony, the dark times passed. "I'm so happy and grateful that I'm still around to enjoy this much more productive period of my life."
Schizophrenia Ireland is keen to point out that people suffering from depression or thoughts of suicide are not on their own. Help is out there. "Ireland is in the fortunate position to have a significant number of voluntary and non-statutory groups dedicated to suicide prevention," said Anne Callanan of the National Suicide Review Group, adding that the most prominent of these were the Irish Association of Suicidology and the National Suicide Research Foundation.