Express words: August 2013

Suicide is an issue most don’t like or want to talk about but it is an issue that cannot be avoided and must be discussed. Current social conditions; aspects of the technological age; the breakdown of the family unit; pressures; conflict; a decline in the sense of community; stretched mental health resources; and economic concerns are among the factors contributing to suicide risk in our young people.

It is a myth that talking about suicide with our youth will plant the negative seed of an idea in their minds. The opposite is true. Talking about it shows that you care; that you are aware of the issue; that you are on top of concerns they may have already witnessed or discussed with their peers; and that they are valued, needed and worthy.

The following are facts on the prevalence of youth suicide in Australia and the subsequent seriousness of the issue, as well as tips for those giving support to at-risk people. They have been collated from a number of valuable online articles, papers and current studies and are primarily Australian-based.

To read further, follow the links in the Reference List and in the Further Reading/Useful Links list, both at the end of the article. Among these, is the valuable resource of In 2 Life (http://in2life.org.au/ ), an Adelaide-based charity organisation passionate about helping and mentoring at-risk youth, for whom suicide is a massive concern. In 2 Life is also at the helm of a Facebook site, Coming Together to Prevent Youth Suicide (https://www.facebook.com/groups/preventingyouthsuicide/ ), which has gained huge membership in a short time and was set up to offer support and guidance to suicidal young people. This has saved the lives of a number of our young people. If you can help in any way through either of these resources, contact In 2 Life.

Facts and Issues

“Australian studies have found that between 23.5% and 49% of teenagers have thoughts of suicide at some time.”¹

“Suicide is the leading cause of death among young people, second only to motor vehicle accidents.”¹

“In remote rural Australia suicide rates for young males are nearly twice those of males living in capital cities.”¹

“The suicide rate in indigenous communities may be 40% higher than the rate of non-indigenous suicide.”¹

Suicide “…is an attempt to solve a problem of intense emotional pain with impaired problem-solving skills.”²

“Research has shown that 75 – 80 per cent of all people who died by suicide and almost every person who attempted suicide made attempts to communicate to others in the weeks or months leading up to the attempt/suicide that they were in deep despair.”³However, due to the suicidal person’s ambivalence to death, this communication is often made in a joking manner or in some way that doesn’t express seriousness and is often, therefore, not taken seriously.³

“Even the most severely depressed person has intensely conflicting feelings about dying by suicide, and most waver in indecision until the very last moment.”³

“…evidence-based programs have been implemented in Italy and Britain, where school time has been given over to the teaching of social and emotional learning. These programs improve self-efficacy and reduce feelings of hopelessness. Students are taught how to rationalise problems and build resilience. Italy and Britain have youth suicide rates less than half that of Australia.”⁵

“Mental illness has increased in successive generations of Australian youth. About a quarter of teenagers suffer significant psychological distress at one time and more than 7000 young people a year are admitted to hospital after self-harming.”⁵

Creating awareness of the issue of suicide and talking about it reduces the associated stigma, thereby encouraging at-risk youth to seek help when needed. “Lifeline WA chief executive Fiona Kalaf said it was important to talk responsibly and openly about suicide. "It helps reduce the stigma associated with the topic and also with mental health," she said. "The stigma is a key barrier that hinders people from seeking help."”⁶

“The World Health Organisation tells us that our current crop of year 7 boys and girls will face a greater threat from depression than from any other disease by the time they reach 30.”⁵

“Some stress is brought on because of trends in society: the rise of individualism and consumerism; a decline in a sense of community and of the importance of the family unit. Each of these trends has a direct impact on mental health.”⁵While this statement is true, there are other issues due to the technological age that require further investigation too and have a massive impact on today’s youth and on future and present levels of mental health. Among these is the prevalence and increase in bullying coupled with the ability to bully through social media and to a far-reaching audience. Another aspect is the impact of graphic adult content, lack of adequate controls around this and the flow-on effect of these images and videos on vulnerable and under-developed teenage minds. Another flow-on effect is the social impact with the objectification of women and the damage to future relationships.

“Clearly, many children thrive despite society's influence. But too many of our youth are unaware, or apathetic as they race headlong into what the WHO predicts will be a depression epidemic by 2030.”⁵

Tips on giving support

The following is sourced online, as listed below, from the Mental Health Social Support Specialty ‘Supporting the Suicidal and Suicide-Bereaved’. (For further information on MHSS: www.mhss.net.au)

“Your job as support person, should you choose to accept it, is to strengthen the part of the person that wants to live, by helping them to understand that suicide applies a permanent solution to what is a temporary problem; other solutions can be found.”³

“For all the intensity of negative emotion and sincere desire to die, however, there is simultaneously in most suicides an equally strong wish to find a way out of the dilemma. Thus, suicide contemplation is about intense ambivalence. The skilled social support person can tap into this ambivalence, helping the person to swing to the “want to find a way out of the dilemma” pole.”³

“By talking to you, a suicidal person is taking a huge risk, but it is a compliment to you, too. It is a statement that, somehow, you seem to be more caring, more capable of coping with adversity, or more able to protect the person’s confidentiality than others. It is a cry for help, and it is a positive, courageous thing that the person is doing in confiding in you about their suicidal urges.”³

^“A suicidal person doesn’t get morbid ideas by talking about suicide; the person already has them. The opposite is true; by bringing up the question and discussing it openly, you are showing the person that you care about them, that you take them seriously, and that you are willing to let them share their pain with you. By asking whether the person is suicidal, you are giving them the opportunity to release pent-up and painful feelings. Any discussion will help you to determine how far along the way to completion their plans are.”³

^“Remember, it is not how bad the problem is; it is how badly it is hurting the person who has it (Ainsworth, 2011). As human beings, we all have our strengths and growing edges. It is those edges – our “Achilles heels” – that function as the weak links in our chain of problem-solving. What is a nuisance factor to one person might be an overwhelming problem for someone else.”³

Remain vigilant and supportive. Improvement does not mean that the risk of suicide is over. “Most suicides occur within days or weeks of “improvement” when the individual has the energy and motivation to actually follow through with his/her suicidal thoughts (Clayton, J., n.d.).”⁴

Reference List

1. http://www.rch.org.au/cah/research/Youth_Suicide_in_Australia/ The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Centre for Adolescent Health, Youth Suicide in Australia, Cited online 8/8/2013.

2. Kalafat, J. & Underwood, M. (undated), Making Educators Partners in Suicide Prevention. . Lifelines: A School-Based Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative. Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide. Retrieved from: http://spts.pldm.com/. Cited in Suicide: Statistics, Characterictics and Myths, AIPC (Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors) Article Library, June 14, 2012. http://www.aipc.net.au/articles/suicide-statistics-characteristics-and-myths/ Cited online 9/8/2013.

3. Suicide: Statistics, Characterictics and Myths, AIPC (Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors) Article Library, June 14, 2012. http://www.aipc.net.au/articles/suicide-statistics-characteristics-and-myths/ Cited online 9/8/2013.

4. Clayton, J. Suicide Prevention: Saving Lives One Community at a Time. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. http://www.afsp.org/files/Misc_//standardizedpresentation.ppt. (Cited online: See reference 2.)

5. Haesler, Dan, It’s time to confront the deadliest demon of them all, The Sydney Morning Herald, Federal Politics, Nov. 2010. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/society-and-culture/its-time-to-confront-the-deadliest-demon-of-them-all-20101102-17c9c.html#ixzz2bTAFSr5h Cited online 9/8/2013

6. Teenage Suicide Raises Alarm, B. Hiatt, The West Australian, Aug. 2, 2012 http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/14432248/teenage-suicides-raise-alarm/ Cited online 10/8/2013

Further Reading / Useful Links