Celtic Tiger blamed for rise in crisis
Dr Jose Bertolote of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said rapid changes in society and the economy usually resulted in a rise in suicide rates.
“A similar situation happened in Norway which became very rich after the discovery of oil in the North Sea. When the social fabric changes, suicide increases — that’s the experience,” he said.
A psychiatrist and neurologist, Dr Bertolote said people didn’t know how to behave when the social fabric was disrupted.
“They don’t know what to do, particularly in a crisis, and don’t know where to go for help. We have the nuclear family of just parents and children and more single men and women living together.
“Family contact is being lost with elderly people, who are becoming more isolated. Traditionally, older people were always there to help when younger family members were in distress.”
He told an international conference on suicide prevention that Ireland did not have one of the highest rates of suicide in the world, but there had been a steep increase in suicides among young men and women here in the last 20 years.
“I think alcohol has a major role in suicides all over the world, including Ireland,” he said.
Binge drinking, he also claimed, was a key issue and he described unwanted pregnancies as a disaster for young women. The decline in religious practice was another possible factor, he believed.
“Taking all these issues together, there’s something wrong in terms of educating young Irish people,” said Swiss-based Dr Bertolote, who is co-ordinator of the management of mental and brain disorders with the WHO.
About 500 people die through suicide in Ireland yearly. During the 1980s and ’90s, Ireland had one of the fastest-rising suicide rates in the world, with the rate — mainly for men — doubling.
