Suicide study - 190 deaths is too many

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The findings of the latest National Suicide Research Foundation study highlight the complexity of the tragedy that is suicide.

While one-third of those who took their own lives in Cork City and county had worked in construction and a simplistic analysis would suggest that unemployment contributed to their pressures, the next biggest group worked in agriculture, a sector that is performing well.

While problem drinking was a feature of the lives of two-thirds of those who died, more than half had also experienced serious relationship problems in the year before they died, so cause and effect are hard to distinguish.

What is clear is the need for better support for those who show signs of depression or who self-harm and greater understanding that the stress and despair that many fight to fend off every day in these difficult times can eventually wear down the most optimistic.

The heavy reliance on a patchwork of voluntary groups and charitable organisations in this hugely important area of public health is unrealistic and shortsighted and means too many people fall through the cracks.

The 190 who died in Cork City and county in the 30 months of the NSRF’s study are just some of them.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, January 18, 2012