seven men to every woman

mark logan

Seven to one - this is the ratio of male to female suicide in Ireland.
Suicide is the major cause of death among younger males aged 19-25 in Ireland, easily surpassing road traffic accidents, and serious illness.

Why is this not on the national agenda, particularly as when suicide occurrs, friends and families are devestated, often for many years after? The huge rate, now one of the highest in the world among this younger age group, is reaching endemic proportions most notably in the West of Ireland, from Cork up to Mayo.

Any thoughts on why it isn't discussed more openly, what can be done about it, and how it can be kept in the public domain. At the same time as the rate is soaring, there is an apparent surge in binge drinking, and street violence. Not unrelated I think.

I am trying to gather thoughts, insights, and lay peoples expertise, to generate an awareness campaign which will then feed into the development of a pilot prevention service, working in clubs and pubs, with people drinking on the street, in schools, colleges, and with major employers, initially in the West of Ireland.

Any thoughts you may have, I would be grateful for. Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Mark

mark.logan@rehabcare.ie

tHE vAGGABOND

I think magil it was who did a good bit on this before christmas. Well worth a read.

bombidol

its that ratio thats causing the suicides

bomb

Doc

Originally posted by bombidol
its that ratio thats causing the suicides

bomb

Explain?

Boston

id kill every motherf*cker here before id take my own life

swiss

A friend of mine was lost recently to suicide. I applaud any work that seeks to determine the cause of suicide, and particularly why it affects males to a far greater extent than it does women.

I have found this website (containing analysis of the works of Emile Durkheim) to contain some interesting information and hypotheses that can help to explain the underlying social trends behind suicide rates.

From what I can gather, suicide presupposes a prior mental inclination (i.e a presence of suicidal tendencies) but does not explain the variations in suicide rates in different cultures, minority groups and religious factions. The website above offers information to help show why this is the case (it's quite a long read).

I would be interested to know what initiatives will be proposed to be put in place to try to stem the tide of male suicides (I'm not saying female suicides are any less important/traumatic) in Ireland.

Biffa Bacon

Originally posted by mark logan
Why is this not on the national agenda, particularly as when suicide occurrs, friends and families are devestated, often for many years after?

I think one of the reasons it's not on the national agenda is that many people feel that anyone who talks about it has a hidden agenda with regard to attacking feminism. When someone like John Waters talks about the male suicide rate, he is just ignored because feminists don't like him. I think this perception, that helping men has to be at the expense of women, needs to be changed.

As for solving the problem, I think a big part of it is that most people don't know that they can do anything about it if they are feeling suicidal. They don't believe that anyone can help them. Of course, this hopelessness is simply a condition of their being depressed which they don't realise. So we need to get the message across that no, you don't have to feel like this, and yes, there is something you can do about it.

People need to be given greater access to counsellors, which is probably a bigger problem in rural areas than urban ones. I don't know but does the state pay for free counselling sessions as part of the national health service? I think it would be a good idea.

bombidol

I was trying to be funny when i said that, but i actually have some views on the subject, As to why more men commit suicide, its a hard thing to figure out, the IS a certain stigma to being a man, a man is hard, tough, mean and skilled he can make any situation turn around to benifit him, but if you dont fall into this stereotype there are problems you dont feel worth the effort like you are nothing, women on the other hand are in the position to be helped at every turn, if a woman is in need of help both men and women are willing to help, to go out of their way, now they might both have different reasons for helping but the outcome is usually the same, some of the womens burden is eased.
i could talk about this all day (as usual) but some of my views might be a bit extreme and i dont want to cause any offence.

BomB

Blitzkrieger

Originally posted by swiss
From what I can gather, suicide presupposes a prior mental inclination (i.e a presence of suicidal tendencies) but does not explain the variations in suicide rates in different cultures, minority groups and religious factions.

Many people don't agree with this. There was a good article in Magil magazine last November if you could find it in a library. Here are some extracts : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36700

chernobyl

From my experience on this issue (proceeding with an open stance on this one Bard), suicide is spontaneous, you may never have given it serious thought, but for a few moments in time you find yourself examining your life, with you coming to the conclusion that death is an answer.
There is no way back from suicide, once you have been there, you now know how easy it is to just waste yourself and its always an open an easy solution for you.

Clintons Cat

i dont have a link, but a study in england found that their was a significant gender disparity in the ways people chose to commit suicide.
Women were more likely to use Overdose/Cutting wrists than men who were more likely to choose hanging,gunshot.
It could help to explain the disparity in sucessful suicides,there is less chance of revival in "traditional male" suicide methods.

azezil

In my teen years i contemplated suicide on numerous occasions, looking back now the reasons seem whimsical but at the time really got me down. During adolescence you have all these emotions raging inside of you but your a man you're not supposed to show emotion :rolleyes:.

The reason I’d see it as being high in Ireland is because of the lack of personal development, sex education etc. If young males and indeed females were better informed about what they're going through they'd be better equipped to cope with these emotions and would understand its only a phase, and everyone else goes through it too.

bombidol

Just as i said in my post.

Bomb

swiss

Originally posted by chernobyl
From my experience on this issue (proceeding with an open stance on this one Bard), suicide is spontaneous, you may never have given it serious thought, but for a few moments in time you find yourself examining your life, with you coming to the conclusion that death is an answer

This may be true in some cases, but I do believe that in many cases people who have taken their own lives have had suicidal tendencies and feelings of depression or inadequecy for one reason or another.

The thread quoted by Blitzkrieger is indeed an interesting one, and I do now remember reading it at the time. I would agree that the absence of support services for males, as well as the unrealistic expectations and burdens that are placed upon males by society are chief reasons why young males in particular choose to end their lives prematurely.

In short, we need to purge the socially accepted idea that men need to adopt a 'tough guy' stance to emotional and psychological trauma, even if this entails a fundamental shift in societies expectations of men and the role they have to play in that society.