Mental Health Awareness Week: Male Suicide

Image by Aldain Austria, Unsplash

This week (13th to 19th May 2019) is Mental Health Awareness Week. Throughout the week we will focus on different aspects of mental health.

 

The MHF record that;

  • 1 person in 15 has made a suicide attempt at some point in their life.
  • Suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20 to 49.
  • 75% of the 5,821 suicides in GB during 2017 were Male.

 

The nature of a death by suicide means that the cause is often obscured but whilst mental health awareness has grown and overall suicide rates have dropped, suicide is still the biggest killer of men under 45 (Samaritans, 2018).

In March the BBC published an article ‘Why more men than women die by suicide’ investigating why women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and to attempt suicide but male suicide rates remain several times higher than female rates.
GQ published ‘It’s time to break the code of silence behind male suicide’ in March 2018 highlighting the stark statistic that 34% of 35 to 44 year olds have felt their life is not worth living in the last year.

And, although dating from 2017 the MHF’s article about ‘What makes a man? Exploring men and mental health in society’ is well worth a read as it talks about the ‘Being a man’ festival (BAM). The article summarises nicely the panellist’s views on what can be done to improve male mental health.

 

I’ll leave this article with their recommendation;

“It is important to look after your own mental health as well as your physical health. Know your limits and learn to put yourself first when you need to” (Mental Health Foundation, 2017).

 

If you know anyone who needs help then the MHF have a number of links here; https://bit.ly/1maSe5l

 

Gareth Snaith, Contract Performance Manager, 3SC

 

References

Why more men than women die by suicide, BBC, 2019; https://bbc.in/2FjVHeL

It’s time to break the code of silence behind male suicide, GQ, 2018; https://bit.ly/2Jn1jYS

Suicide facts and figures, Samaritans, 2018; https://bit.ly/2UMPDQC

, Mental Health Foundation, 2017; https://bit.ly/2JJ2gdt

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