Suicide

We’ve previously covered the subject of emo, and the various attempts to blame emo culture for adolescent self-harm and suicide. As I’ve said before, I think such criticism is entirely hysterical and wrong-headed.

And now I’m pleased to hear that an emo band has performed a gig in Bridgend in the wake of the suicides that have taken place there. The gig has been done to raise money for the Samaritans and to encourage young people to seek assistance as an alternative to suicide.

While I commend this emu band for coming up with a constructive response to the Bridgend suicides, I also can’t help but be slightly amused by the irony that that band are called…Funeral For A Friend.

Our old friend in the check shirt is back on the BBC website: -

Whenever he appears, you know it’s a mental health issue they’re reporting. This time it’s pro-suicide websites. Researchers from Bristol, Oxford and Manchester universities have found that pro-suicide sites are frequently thrown up by a web search for suicide-related information:-

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As those of you who have been following the news will know, there’s been a spate of suicides in Bridgend, South Wales. 17 young people have committed suicide, all by hanging. Nearly all of them were not known to mental health services prior to killing themselves. The media seems to be blaming the internet. The local politicians are blaming the media.

So who’s to blame, Bebo or the Daily Express? I’ve been exchanging a few e-mails with CAMHS clinicians in South Wales, and I’ve received a couple of interesting stories.

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Here’s an unusual research paper from the British Medical Journal (PDF file) entitled, Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study.

Yes, it’s a research study undertaken to find out whether or not goths really do cut themselves and attempt suicide more than the rest of us.

And the results?
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Ok, I don’t mean this is “goodbye”.

An article in the Telegraph today caught my eye reporting on suicide in kids. The first thing that I notice, probably displaying my unfortunate mental health cynicism was the expert opinion of;

Dr Dylan Griffiths, an adolescent psychiatrist at the Priory Ticehurst House Hospital, explains that it is often down to the interplay between our internal and external worlds, the point where our internal circuitry is affected by external triggers.

Kind of astute. Suicide occurs where the external real world doesn’t mix well with the inner egocentric world. Or, there’s an incompatibility between life and existing in it.

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I`m not exactly sure, I think it was the early `70`s, when natural gas came online. Prior to that the country was reliant on coal gas. Coal gas was toxic as a consequence of which switching on the gas and putting your head in the oven was a common method of taking your own life. Nowadays, a lot of people and a whole new generation of nurses won`t remember that.

What`s my point ?. I can`t help thinking that we`re going in circles. Human beings are quite ingenious, if you deny people one option in terms of taking their own life, they will quickly conjure up another. Of course, I`m not for one moment suggesting that we give up on managing the risk of suicide. I`m simply suggesting the time has come to think a little more smartly about it.

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