Call for response to alarming increase in suicide
Dan Neville, Fine Gael spokesman on mental health was speaking at the launch of a programme, called Optimising Suicide Prevention Programmes and their Implementation, in Limerick (OSPI-Limerick).
Limerick along with three other regions in Portugal, Hungary and Germany have been chosen by the European Commission for suicide intervention programmes.
Mr Neville, who is president of the Irish Association of Suicidology said latest Central Statistic Office figures show the number of suicides increased by 35% in the first half of 2009.
“These most recent figures show that 228 people took their own lives in the first half of last year, compared with 169 in the same period in 2008. The Government must pay heed to the link between unemployment and suicide. Up to 77% of the deaths by suicide were among men and 40% of those who took their lives were under 35.
“The Government should regard an increase in the magnitude of 35% in the number of suicides as warranting an emergency response. Instead, the Government has been ignoring its duty to respond to the mental health crisis brought about by times of recession.”
Mr Neville said unemployment was having a profound affect on the young and those in middle age.
“Irish society awards status and prestige according to a person’s position and contribution to work. Unemployment is associated with loss of face and of prestige. The unemployed are six times more likely to be suffering from a psychiatric disorder than those in employment. Of the men who took their lives in the Kelleher/Daly Cork Study in the 1980s, two thirds were out of work at the time of their deaths.”
Dr Ella Arensman, director of research at National Suicide Research Foundation said they are launching a special response to the problem of self-harm among young men and women in Limerick, which is the highest in the country.
“This self-harm situation in Limerick is ongoing since the mid-1990s. One specific aspect from our research in Limerick shows that a lot of people who take an overdose, non-fatally, take an overdose by minor tranquilisers, and that seems quite specific to Limerick as opposed to other parts of the country.”
They planned to work with GPs and pharmacists to tackle the availability of minor tranquilisers.
A considerable number of people take alcohol before or during an act of self-harm, whether by overdose or cutting.
She said the stigma associated with suicide and self-harm and the amounts of alcohol involved were specific issues to Ireland.
Dr Arensman said OSPI-Limerick will look at attitudes to mental health in Limerick. “We all know that stigma around mental health is very strong. If we manage to increase people’s awareness about depression, I am convinced we will reduce suicidal behaviour. A similar project of intensive intervention conducted in Germany showed that after only two years the rates of suicide and attempted suicide dropped by 24%.”
