Highest suicide rates in men since 2001

It has been reported today that the number of men committing suicide is at an all time high since 2001. In 2013, 78% of suicides were in men, compared to 63% in 1981. Additionally, the age category showing the highest suicide rate for men (and women) was 45-59 year olds, where it was previously 30-44 year olds. 

Suicide is the leading cause of death in men aged 20-34, and represented 24% of deaths in 2013! Joe Ferns from the Samaritans said "The news is sadly not surprising to us given the context of a challenging economic environment and the social impact that brings". However, this does not mean these deaths are not preventable, and something needs to be done. 

Image: Daniel Fryer

As I have said in a previous post about mental health (Let's talk about it), we need to make it ok for people suffering from mental illness to seek help and encourage them to do so. But we also need to provide much better support from GPs, hospitals and other care settings, as well as getting families and friends involved. 

So what is being done to try to cut the number of suicides? It was reported earlier this year that the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg wants to adopt a similar strategy pioneered in Detroit that is being implemented in Merseycare NHS trust in Liverpool. 
This strategy includes:

• creating a Safe from Suicide Team, a 24/7 group of experts which rapidly and thoroughly assesses patients who are having suicidal thoughts
• improving the care of people who present with self-harm injuries at accident and emergency units, offering them therapies on the spot and following up with them when they go home
• improving data collection on patients to get a better understanding of how and where patients are most at risk of suicide and then targeting resources at them

Image: Mental Healthy

However, this strategy cannot work unless the government takes mental health seriously and allows the necessary funding for such a prominent problem.