During the Celtic Tiger era, the pressures of affluence were blamed for rising suicide rates
EDMUND HONOHAN certainly expressed what many people were feeling when he spoke about people being driven to suicide by debt, and the necessity to draft legislation on bankruptcy swiftly.
It is obvious that Honohan is prompted by compassion and the fear of needless deaths. However, we need to exercise caution when it comes to the highly complex area of suicide. Clearly, he was not suggesting that suicide is in any way a normal response to extreme stress. Of any group of individuals in danger of losing their homes, only a tiny minority will resort to suicide or self-harm.
Experts are always very careful to point out that any death by suicide is usually a result of several factors. Prof Patricia Casey, an internationally respected researcher into suicidal behaviour, says vulnerable people who perceive themselves to be unsupported are most at risk.
They may have loving family and friends, but their perceptions become distorted and negative due to extreme distress. She also believes, however, that some deaths by suicide are a result of acting impulsively, with catastrophic consequences, and that some researchers may not give sufficient recognition to that reality.
She also urged caution on whether suicide rates are increasing. Anecdotally, the numbers are rising, but it may be two or three years before we know the true rate.
While the Central Statistics Office collects raw figures every year, until all the verdicts from coroners’ courts are analysed, including open verdicts where there is an element of uncertainty as to the cause of death, we will not know if there really is a rise. It is also difficult to state categorically that a suicide is due to debt and bankruptcy.
Remember, during the Celtic Tiger era, the pressures of affluence were blamed for rising rates of suicide among young people or, more particularly, young men.
Interestingly, Casey believes that the differences in suicide rates among men and women may not be because of women’s much vaunted ability to talk through their problems and men’s greater reticence. There are certainly differences in the ways men relate to one another compared to women, but testosterone may be a more important factor. Men choose more violent methods than women.
She says depression is higher among women than men, but when men attempt to die by suicide they are much more likely to succeed because of the methods they employ.
Encouraging men to talk in the same way that women do may do little to reduce suicide rates among them. The importance of seeking help cannot be overstated.
Unfortunately, I think some of Edmund Honohan remarks about suicide were somewhat facile. For example, he spoke of people who were in danger of suicide feeling more “cheery” because someone has addressed the problem.
While they may well be relieved that someone is championing their cause, it is unlikely that someone in the grip of overwhelming depression due to debt is going to become “cheery” overnight simply because someone has named the problem. Suicidal ideation is not so simply addressed.
People facing a crisis often become so overwhelmed that their thinking focuses obsessively on their problems and how insurmountable they are. Alone, or even with the help of friends and family, they may be unable to break out of an increasingly negative and dark spiral.
However, with professional help, they may well begin to see that all is not lost, and that they are more resilient than they think. A person suffering from depression due to crushing problems is likely to be referred to counselling that will concentrate on what is termed cognitive reappraisal, or a problem-solving approach.
With support, the seemingly impossible may become manageable.
Resilience is a fascinating subject. In every disaster there are people who not only survive, but thrive. For example, I have seen people who suffered appallingly in childhood grow into well-balanced, sane individuals, sometimes with what seems like relatively meagre levels of support, such as an adult outside the immediate family circle who provided an emotional sanctuary.
However, I am wary of writing about resilience, because there is always a danger of blaming the victim, of implying that if only people had greater levels of resilience, they would not be in distress in the first place.
Such an approach always sails close to ignoring the reality of unjust structures, which need to be changed.
Banks and other lending institutions cannot be left off the hook. While building coping skills in vulnerable people is important, it is appalling if people are being hounded over debts that the bank in question has already written off.
It was also somewhat disturbing to see Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation Richard Bruton talking about the “moral hazard” of widespread debt forgiveness. (Moral hazard is the phenomenon where, when people are protected from the consequences of bad decisions, they are likely to make more of them. Insured people are more careless with possessions, and so on.) It seems a tad ironic to be focusing on the “moral hazard” for little people. Bruton suggested “you can’t be writing off one person’s debt and expect another person to pay their debt”. The key word here seems to be person. Large banks? Why, that’s a different story. The moral hazard involved seems acceptable there.
Honohan is right to emphasise the need to legislate quickly. It may not be quite “back of the envelope” stuff but the Law Reform Commission and others have suggested ways of modernising our archaic bankruptcy laws and creating mechanisms for partial debt forgiveness. The possibility of losing a home is deeply traumatic. It is a universal human phenomenon to create a nest, a place that at its best symbolises security and safety. Home ownership is particularly important to the Irish, and eviction and dispossession have a particularly painful resonance given our colonised past.
Even so, fear, sadness and failure are normal parts of life. Failure and loss do not have to signal the end of the world, much less the end of a life. Depression responds well to intervention. Let’s keep repeating that mantra, and doing everything we can to create a less depression-inducing society.