Middle-aged men are at greatest risk of suicide

Reducing suicide among the middle-aged will be a key priority for the HSE’s Office of Suicide Prevention this year, according to its director.

Gerry Raleigh said that while suicide among young men attracted the most media attention, suicide by middle-aged men was growing at a faster rate.

Outlining his office's plans for the coming year at a briefing in Dublin yesterday, Mr Raleigh said despite investment in suicide-prevention and despite the fact more and more people were accessing helplines such as those run by the Samaritans and counselling services, suicide rates remained stubbornly high.

'Media attention'
"Ten people this week will lose their lives by suicide. Eight of those will be men and six of those people will be over 40 years of age. The loss of life of young men, particularly young men in their 20s, is very high by international standards and it often attracts the most media attention," he said.

“However, the loss of life of middle-aged men and women is a priority because these are our highest-risk groups . . . In 2011, just over 550 deaths were officially recorded as ‘death by suicide’. Figures over the last two to three years are remarkably stable. We see a relatively consistent pattern for people under 30. However, there has been an increase in the trend graph for middle-aged men. For middle-aged women it is relatively consistent.”

The risk factors for this group were well-known. He cited a recent study from the National Suicide Research Foundation, conducted in Cork city and county between 2008 and 2011, which flagged the issue of suicidality among middle-aged men.

Unemployment
"It described the contributory factors [as] unemployment – particularly involving men who had been employed in the construction sector. Also men with a history of alcohol abuse, and relationship breakdown. Oftentimes a number of those issues coming together in a person's history.

“The other important finding was many of those people had had contact with the health services in the period of time relatively close to the time before the tragedy. So they had come to a GP and looked for help with a physical ailment but not said, ‘I’m feeling lousy’ or ‘I am troubled emotionally’.”

Counselling services
He said this disinclination among men, and particularly older men, to speak about emotional or mental difficulties was " a hurdle we have to deal with".

Mr Raleigh also warned that people seeking counselling services should exercise a “healthy scepticism” unless they know the service is recognised.

“The area of counselling in Ireland is largely unregulated and that is a problem. The organisations that we fund, we ensure that all their staff who provide counselling, that all of their qualifications are properly recognised. There may be other organisations and I don’t know.”

The budget for the office has increased by 8 per cent this year compared with last, to €8.8 million. It leads the Government’s strategy for suicide prevention and plans this year to provide training for more than 10,000 people in suicide prevention; funding to statutory services and 30 NGOs in the sector and to increase from 10 to 16 the number of suicide-prevention resource officers around the country.