[quote=âTreatyStones, post: 851092, member: 1786â]The training I was at had those statistics, Iâm not one to argue with them.
Iâd imagine itâs relatively easy from speaking with relatives to know if it was a life event that triggered the suicide as opposed to a mental illness/depression.[/quote]
Yeah but I think people like to believe there was a specific issue that pushed somebody over the edge rather than a mental illness. May make it easier to cope.
Are we way out of kilter with the rest of the western world in terms of suicide statistics?
[quote=âTheUlteriorMotive, post: 851096, member: 2272â]
Are we way out of kilter with the rest of the western world in terms of suicide statistics?[/quote]
High, but now where near the highest according to this:
I donât think you can generalise about whether it can be seen coming. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, and itâs not something that can be quantified easily. Jack OâConnorâs book has a bit about a lad that played under him at Colaiste na Sceilige who took his own life at 20. The lad had been in hospital a year and a half previously. It doesnât say why, but leaves you to draw your own conclusions. The lad had lost his brother two years previously. Again it doesnât say how, but again leaves you to draw your own conclusions. That case ties into the loss factor, but also to the long-running nature of some cases.
Neither do I, but Iâd still quite easily kill myself. I see the whole world as a surreal nonsense, much like Hunter Stockton Thompson did. Iâve read that heâd never have continued living past 30 or so without the guarantee that he could end his life at any time he pleased. Thatâd be me too.
It doesnât really mean anything except for the relationships you form with people you like and love or with the world itself. Bless it that the majority of us find enough in that to go to bed at night and anticipate the next morning.
[quote=âRocko, post: 851089, member: 1â]I donât know if I ever had what would be clasically called depression but when I was a teenager (and up to about 18 or so) I was a weird fucker. Iâd drive myself completely mad with hypothetical scenarios and Iâd get completely worked up about nothing. Other times Iâd just zone out of my life for hours or days at a time, not talking to anyone, not doing anything, just being gloomy (shit word but donât know how to describe it better). I recall one year spending 10 hours on Christmas Day and 10 hours on Stephenâs Day sitting in the bathroom staring at the walls.
I donât know how I fixed it. I did spend a lot of time thinking about it (which probably wasnât helpful) and I now recognise times when my mind starts running away and I think to myself, God thatâs what used to happen and drive me insane. But I can just ignore it completely now because I recognise happening and for some reason while I used to get absorbed by that, I now just dismiss it. I never get depressed about anything now.[/quote]
Presume youâd at least one other bathroom in your house?
Mental health problems cleraly shouldnât be stigmatised, but I donât really understand the notion of attaching stigma to the act of suicide.
Why should there not be a stigma attached to it, unless weâre classifying as a valid choice? And I donât think anybody would want to classify it as a valid choice.
[quote=âTheUlteriorMotive, post: 851096, member: 2272â]Yeah but I think people like to believe there was a specific issue that pushed somebody over the edge rather than a mental illness. May make it easier to cope.
Are we way out of kilter with the rest of the western world in terms of suicide statistics?[/quote]
I donât see how any statistics which are based on what family or friends say about a suicide case are entirely reliable.
Thatâs an interesting one. Iâve found that the greater stigma is attached to the whole area of mental health itself. Far too often the discussion around suicide only occurs in itâs aftermath whereas itâs cause is too often ignored.
For example, I work with a chap who suffers from Bipolar Disorder and would be pretty friendly with him. In line with other posters views, itâs often the simple word or inquiry if a guy is feeling alright that can make the difference. A lot of my work colleagues, however, look on him with trepidation, a hint of fear I suppose or, disgracefully, smart comments behind his back.
The guy is doing everything he can do deal with his illness but will invariably have bad days. If people just educated themselves a little better in dealing with such situations it would be of enormous benefit.
My point is that, if he were to take a tragic step, the same wankers that ignored his issues would be the first ones proselytising about him and bemoaning the lack of support and education. Theyâd also be the first to lead tributes even though their ignorance could have been contributory. Itâs a really Irish thing.
Itâs important to have just a couple of people that you can trust and talk freely to. Makes a huge difference.
Ya, thatâs fair enough, no disagreement there. I suppose I should specify the types of cases we hear about like Niall o Donighue and the type that many here will have come across. They are all related to mental illness though, itâs just some are hidden to the rest of us.
[quote=âSidney, post: 851103, member: 183â]Mental health problems cleraly shouldnât be stigmatised, but I donât really understand the notion of attaching stigma to the act of suicide.
Why should there not be a stigma attached to it, unless weâre classifying as a valid choice? And I donât think anybody would want to classify it as a valid choice.[/quote]
But I donât think there has been a stigmatisation of the issue of suicide and mental health. Articles about it are all over the media everywhere you look. You only have to type âsuicideâ, âdepressionâ or âmental illnessâ into search engines on any of the major newspapers. There are good reasons why suicide is usually not reported as such.
While on the one hand I think the amount thatâs written about mental health and what can be done to improve it and the services provided to deal with mental health problems is great, in another way Iâm not so sure. There are several different categories of depression. Some are definitely genuine illnesses, but others, for me, arenât. A chap who is a friend of mine actually wrote an article in the Irish Times recently about suffering from depression. All I know is that I have suffered worse symptoms than he has outlined in his article but I wouldnât class myself as being ill. I would class myself as prone to feeling depressed from time to time, but I donât know if that counts as suffering from depression. Maybe some of the commentary makes people inclined to believe they suffer from illness when they may not. But then again I could class depression after a drinking session as a temporary mental illness, self-inflicted.
[quote=âmyboyblue, post: 851116, member: 180â]This was RTâd into my timeline, could it be true? If so, no wonder then why we will never tackle the stigma around this thing
â@Shiminay itâs also against every media guideline out there to report on suicide as it has serious knock on effects for readersâ
FYI the guy in question appears to be a big shot over on boards.[/quote]
Have a look at how the UK media report it. Theyâll even mention the method. I remember them saying Darren Sutherland was found hanging by his manager. That actually scared me to hear it. Out of interest, is suicide as big a problem in the UK as it would be here?
According to the link The Runt put up per head of population it is higher but anicdotally it doesnât seem as big an issue. There were a few areas of the UK where they had huge numbers of young people committing suicide in a very short period not too long ago.
I think the fact that Ireland is such a small place doesnât help, and the fact that a good proportion of them seemt o take place in tight knit rural communities pretty much every person would have been affected or known someone who would have committed suicide
[quote=âchewy louie, post: 851125, member: 1137â]According to the link The Runt put up per head of population it is higher but anicdotally it doesnât seem as big an issue. There were a few areas of the UK where they had huge numbers of young people committing suicide in a very short period not too long ago.
[/quote]
Bridgend in Wales probably being the most documented case. 79 suicides between January 2007 and February 2012.