80% of suicide victims talked of idea in weeks before death

MORE THAN 80 per cent of people who took their own lives discussed suicidal ideas with someone in the fortnight before their death, new research indicates.

The findings form part of a major research project in Ireland involving 400 cases in the coroners’ courts and interviews with more than 200 relatives of people who died by suicide.

The study by Prof Kevin Malone and Séamus McGuinness also shows that mental illness was a factor in about 70 per cent of cases, while 40 per cent of cases involved a first attempt at suicide.

Prof Malone said: “This shows that people are discussing their concerns, but is this being picked up? And if it isn’t, we need to know what are the obstacles to that.”

Alcohol was a factor in about one in six cases, while more than 10 per cent of deaths were part of “suicide clusters”. The majority of cases in the study involved people under the age of 30 who died between 2003 and 2008.

The research was supported by the 3Ts charity and the National Office for Suicide Prevention.

Separately, a new study published in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Journal found that 6 per cent of students in two Dublin universities reported suicidal thoughts in the previous month.

The study, which involved 338 medical and business students in UCD and Trinity, found that 14 per cent were depressed, while about a quarter had an alcohol disorder.

The researchers – based at Trinity and UCD – said the findings showed that students were a vulnerable group and underscored the need for mental health and support services in universities.

The prevalence of depression in the study was consistent with figures in similar studies.

The National Office for Suicide Prevention’s annual forum in Dublin also heard yesterday of research into relatively high levels of suicide and self-harm among gays, lesbians and transsexuals.

A study by the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Glen) and youth group Belong To found that up to 27 per cent of self-selected participants in a study had self-harmed and 18 per cent had attempted suicide.

Odhrán Allen of Glen said this higher risk of suicide was linked to society’s negative treatment of gay people. “We know that discrimination, harassment and stigma are still a fact of life for many LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people today,” he said.