SUICIDE TENDS to confuse, anger and panic families and communities. In many ways our health service has been paralysed by similar indecision and uncertainty in dealing with prevention. Even though it was decriminalised in 1993, the stigma surrounding suicide has contributed to a failure to plan or invest effectively in measures to prevent people taking their own lives. The result is a patchwork of services around the State.
There have been some encouraging changes in recent years. There is a national authority – the Health Service Executive’s National Office for Suicide Prevention – and a national strategy, Reach Out. They have helped to co-ordinate, resource and administer the work of suicide prevention. And there are early indications that these efforts may be working. The number who died by suicide has been falling slowly in recent years, with latest figures showing 424 people last year compared to 460 the year before.
Yet, there is still cause for serious concern. The fall in overall numbers masks the fact that Ireland has the fourth highest rate of youth suicide in the EU. In addition, the rate of deliberate self-harm among young men and women is on the increase. As we face into a prolonged economic downturn, research indicates that the number of people considering suicide is likely to increase significantly.
Although Government and health authorities are belatedly acting on suicide prevention, it is clear the area does not receive the priority it deserves. For example, 10 times more money is spent on road safety measures than on suicide prevention, despite the fact that more people kill themselves than die on the roads. When an Oireachtas sub-committee on suicide prevention this year examined how many of the recommendations from its 2006 report had been implemented, the result was just seven out of 33. In addition, there are gaping holes in service provision. It is extraordinary that many people who present in hospital emergency units having self-harmed are not followed up with counselling or psychiatric intervention.
It is clear what needs to be done. Positive mental health awareness campaigns have a crucial role to play, as well as more user-friendly mental health services. More effective targeting of at-risk groups is also long overdue. It is only through sustained, specific and properly-resourced measures that we can support people who have lost their way and help to ensure that nobody faces such issues on their own.