Page 1885 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 6 June 2017
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new portfolio are to develop an office for mental health to roll out and oversee mental health services and provider funding, develop a strategy that sets targets for suicide reduction and provide more support for young people.
While I acknowledge that some people have misgivings about how much we should talk about suicide publicly, it is an issue of such serious concern that it needs to be more fully understood, and we need to explore its complexity and implications. Talking about suicide publicly is appropriate. A 2014 study by the school of medicine at King’s College London found no statistically significant increase in suicidal ideation among adult participants asked about suicidal thoughts. Their findings suggest that acknowledging and talking about suicide may in fact reduce, rather than increase, suicidal ideation and may lead to improvements in mental health in treatment-seeking populations. These findings echo the views of former Australian of the Year and pre-eminent researcher in the area of early psychosis and youth mental health, Professor Patrick McGorry.
In plain language, suicide was the leading underlying cause of death among persons aged 15 to 24, at 31 per cent of deaths, and persons aged 25 to 44, at 20 per cent of deaths, according to 2012 to 2014 data published recently by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. In 2015 suicide accounted for one-third of deaths, or 33.9 per cent, among people 15 to 24 years of age, and over a quarter of deaths, or 27.7 per cent, among those 25 to 34 years of age. In 2015 suicide was ranked as the 13th most common cause of death across all age groups and causes by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Over the last 20 years from 1997 to 2015 the ACT statistics for deaths attributed to suicide have fluctuated. However the average number of deaths attributed to suicide in the ACT has been 35 per year. During this time the population of the ACT has grown from 308,000 to 393,000 people.
The previous Minister for Health’s statement on suicide in the ACT utilised the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting methodology of five-year, age-standardised death rate per 100,000 people to report deaths by suicide instead of raw numbers or a yearly rate of deaths by suicide. In 2015 the ACT five-year, age-standardised rate of death by suicide per 100,000 people was 9.3. This compared to a rate of 9.2 in 2014 and 9.1 in 2013. Again, in plain language, 46 deaths were attributed to suicide in the ACT in 2015.
Locally and nationally, advocacy groups and academics alike have been calling for increased coordination, more education and enhanced prevention programs to address the complex issue of suicide. These experts in their field understand that reducing suicide is a matter not just for mental health professionals and clinicians but for each of us. While it may be deeply uncomfortable to consider for some people, suicide is not simply a matter of diagnosable medical conditions. It is not exclusively caused by a mental health condition. It is clear, however, that any suicide attempt indicates extreme psychological distress.
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