SUICIDE RATES in Northern Ireland have risen sharply since the end of the Troubles with the young, and men in particular, featuring more and more in the statistics.
The Public Health Agency reports that suicide rates, which remained static throughout the second half of the 20th century, suddenly jumped by 64 per cent between 1999 and 2008.
Young men and boys aged 15-34 accounted for the bulk of this rise. But in more recent years the occurrence of death by suicide among this group is rising noticeably.
Special studies commissioned by the agency showed in 2008, the most recent statistics examined by international researchers, some 77 per cent of all of the suicides were male and the proportion in the 15-34 age group had risen to 72 per cent.
Public representatives, especially in Belfast where suicide rates are particularly high, are pressing for a more urgent response from state agencies.
Sinn Féin Assembly member for West Belfast Sue Ramsey today leads a delegation to press for an urgent action plan from Stormont Ministers.
“We need to wake up to the reality of this matter,” she said last night. “Young people are more and more seeing suicide as a resolution to their problems. We have to ensure that a cross-departmental response which focuses on direct intervention is put in place.
“We must see additional counsellors and intervention workers put into these areas to engage directly with young people.
Public representatives believe there is “no quick fix” despite growing alarm at what is being seen as a possible legacy issue from the Troubles.
Research carried out by academics from Queen’s University with colleagues from the University of Maine points to a general feel-good factor following the ending of conflict and the establishment of new political institutions.
However, there was also a significant and partly obscured sense of personal unhappiness and deep distress.
Among those affected are the generation for whom the Troubles are a childhood memory, if indeed the conflict is personally recalled at all.
With so many males, and especially young males, in the death statistics, much concern has concentrated on them. The Public Health Agency believes services should be more long-term and ongoing.
“Protective factors” including close relationships involving “significant others”, such as family friends, mental health professionals and friends, are key.
However, with the suicide of a young girl, that emphasis may need to be revisited.
The Stormont Department of Health has already studied the impact of the Troubles on suicide rates and believes the conflict significantly affected them in the past. What continues to shock is the enduring ability of the conflict to overshadow the lives of so many. With this in mind, more research may now be needed on specific suicide causes.