The silent epidemic of male suicide

[TechBear_Seattle]

The silent epidemic of male suicide

...

Suicide is the second most common way for a man between the ages of 15 and 34 to die. It is outstripped, only just, by road deaths.

About 900 young men take their own lives each year, and they account for about 75% of all suicides in this age group.

"You've had what is effectively an epidemic of young male suicide," says the National Director for Mental Health in England, Professor Louis Appleby. Between 1970 and 1998, the rate more than doubled. At its peak, five men were dying for every woman.

Yet according to Prof Appleby, less than 20% of young men who commit suicide have had any contact with either their GP or mental health services in the previous year. Quite simply, he says, "they don't seek help when they have problems."

If suicide is the second most serious public health issue for young men, why don't we know about it?

The complete article is available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7219232.stm

[EFerrari]

1. Young men don't have good resources. I once did a survey

and found not a single resource for young men dealing with domestic violence in any setting. K&R

[originalpckelly]

2. This is from the UK, the number is probably much higher in the USA...

considering our suicide rate is about 40,000.

It doesn't sound like an epidemic here for us, when we look at that number, but of course for them that's more indicative of an epidemic because their death rate has an absolute value lower than ours.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. It is difficult to make comparisons

I have little doubt that things are worse in the US. Britain has better health care that is more widely available, for one thing, and mental health issues are being studied there. Here, mental health is not only not being studied, it is denied to even exist by the insurance industry; even those of us with medical coverage cannot get mental health assistance unless we have tried (and failed) to commit suicide and then only for a few talk sessions and no medicines.

Also consider that in the US, violence, alcohol and drug use are less condemned than they are in Britain. I have to wonder how many troubled young men in the US turn down those paths rather than suicide. But of course we will never know, as there seems to be a great reluctance to study such things in this country.

[Tesha]

3. And "road deaths" probably hides quite a few more suicides. (NT)

[Deja Q]

4. Some people seek help and the "help" is too stoic.

[One_Life_To_Give]

6. Admiting needing help? Don't sound manly to me!

Buck up son and be a Man. Only them Quears would go to a shrink, you ain't one of them!
:sarcasm:



Trying to live up to the Machismo requirements of our culture is likely a primary factor in the results. If not the direct cause of distress it inhibits seeking any kind of help. Maybe some day we will learn that "being a bit girly" is not such a bad idea.