Mancunians are being encouraged to speak up and save those who may be suffering from mental health problems as part of World Suicide Prevention Day.
Today’s international event, which is in its 14th year, was created to raise awareness about suicide and mental health issues that people may be suffering from in silence.
A first-of-its-kind study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) claims more than 800,000 people take their lives across the globe every year.
And Professor Louis Appleby, from Manchester University, is delighted that such a worldwide event exists to help tackle the problem of suicide and remove some of the stigma surrounding it.
“It’s a way of handling the issue and a way of talking about it,” said Professor Appleby, who in 2000 was made the National Director for Mental Health in England and is currently Professor of Psychiatry at Manchester University.
“In Britain, we have one of the best suicide rates in the world but other places don’t have the suicide prevention strategies that we do.
“So this day is very important to them as well and it is not just about the focus in Britain.”
Despite the low figure of suicides in the UK – which stood at 5,981 in 2012, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) – Manchester has been identified as ‘at risk’ by Public Health England and Professor Appleby identifies the area as having ‘high rates’ of suicide.
This is despite the fact that the country hit a record-low only as far back as 2007.
“The rate of suicides has come down in the last ten years or so from when it was up in the 90s, particularly in young men, when it reached a peak over this period,” said Professor Appleby.
“Since then it has come down and was at its lowest ever in 2007 and this is since records began in 1861.
“However, the economy crash has meant that it rose over the next few years – but that number is steadily coming down again.”
Professor Appleby is head of the Centre for Suicide Prevention at Manchester University which is one of the largest in the UK and investigates people at risk of suicide, including patients under mental health care, people who have previously harmed themselves, prisoners and young men.
It has also been used by the Government for its National Suicide Prevention Strategy, an initiative Professor Appleby leads.
Through this work, suicide and mental health has been transformed from a taboo subject in the past to something that is no longer shunned or avoided.
Instead, people are much more open to talking about the topic and it is accepted as a problem which needs to be addressed.
This, in part, is down to better ‘frontline services’ which Professor Appleby believes have played a crucial role in helping people who need their voices heard.
“There is a much greater focus on services and frontline services, in particular, are a lot more suited to help people and there are better services for alcohol and drugs,” he said.
Another key factor that has made a significant difference has been high-profile suicides which have brought the problem of mental health very much into the public eye.
From director Tony Scott to Mick Jagger’s girlfriend L’Wren Scott and footballer Gary Speed the death of comedian Robin Williams just last month, celebrity suicides have brought mental health into the public eye.
However, Professor Appleby is concerned that although celebrity suicides can bring awareness, they can also have an adverse effect.
“With Robin Williams’ suicide, the coverage to that was a little bit too explicit and like other high-profile celebrity suicides, it can sometimes trigger copycat suicides,” he said.
Copycat suicides occur when people emulate another suicide after media publicity and particularly impacts on impressionable youths.
And this is just one of a number of reasons why someone might contemplate ending their life.
“It’s not one thing that would lead someone to suicide but a combination of things and it might be that something happens to them which doesn’t seem so bad and people say ‘why did they die for that?’,” Professor Appleby told MM.
“But it is a combination of things like the economy, drugs, drink, family, that all play a part.”
Professor Appleby is confident suicide rates will continue to drop, however, as further research and a greater awareness about the problem is shared through events like World Suicide Prevention Day.
“People are willing to talk about mental health more than before in public and it is very easily discussed as people feel like it is less shameful.
“I think it will continue to come down and days like this will only help with that.”
Image courtesy of Global Panorama with thanks
