Study to establish recession suicide link

In a ground-breaking bid to establish a definite link between suicide rates and the recession, Cork-based researchers are to interview survivors of a potentially lethal act of self-harm.

Ella Arensman from the National Suicide Research Foundation is to interview people who nearly died from suicide to find out why they took such a drastic step.

“There is anecdotal evidence that suicide increases during a recession but there has never been a systematic in-depth investigation as to whether this is really the case,” said Prof Arensman, adding that the study would focus on the interaction between psychosocial and work-related issues.