2005 Press Releases
Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour: Questions and Answers, 16 November
Once almost a taboo subject in Ireland, suicide, sadly, has become one
of the most talked about topics in the land, and even if not
personally affected, few families can be unaware nowadays of the
sinister epidemic, particularly amongst the young.
Is it an indictment of the modern era or is it the desperate and lonely
culmination of all hope lost? How can one recognise the symptoms and is
there anything that can be done?
These and other questions are the subject of the next lecture in UCC's
highly popular Science Lecture Series which continues on Wednesday
evening next, 16 November in Boole Lecture 4 at 8 pm. In her lecture:
Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour: Questions and Answers, Dr Breda
McLeavey (Principal Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry,
Cork University Hospital), an authority in the field, will examine the
phenomenon of suicide in modern-day Ireland and how Irish society went
from having one of the lowest worldwide suicide rates in the 1960s to a
doubling of the rate within three decades, with a four-fold increase in
the rate for young men.
Last year, some 457 Irish people died as a result of suicide and, in
2003, a further 8,805 people carried out an act of deliberate
self-harm. Within the latter figure is hidden the stark fact that over
20 per cent had self-harmed previously and that up to 15 per cent would
do so again within a year. And starker still is the analysis showing
that the most important risk factor for eventual suicide is a previous
act of self-harm. Between 30 and 50 per cent of those who die by
suicide will have had previous episodes of deliberate self harm,
according to Dr McLeavey.
During the lecture, Dr McLeavey will help to clarify what the most
up-to-date position in Ireland is and how we compare with other
countries. She will also look at who is most likely to be at risk of
suicide and the scale of the deliberate self-harm problem. As well,
behaviour in the younger population, how stress becomes distress and
how crisis develops into suicidal crisis, will be explored, as will the
central question of what can be done to help young people with their
coping skills so that difficulties do not mushroom into problems that
seem to have only one, terrible solution. Dr Mc Leavey will also deal
with another key question, and one frequently asked by parents of young
people -how is at-risk behaviour recognised and what should be done
when there are perceived grounds for concern?
The lecture will range over the truly complex nature of suicide and how
changes in modern Irish society may have played a part in the situation
as it is now. Immeasurably more busy though modern living may be, are
people more alone, have traditional support structures, such as
firmly-rooted value systems, religion, even family life, all but
disappeared, and should we be looking for new coping mechanisms in the
new millennium?
The lecture series is organised by Professor William Reville, Faculty
of Science, UCC. The lecture will be given in UCC's Boole Lecture
Theatre 4 at 8 pm on Wednesday, 16 November. Admission in free and as
always, members of the public are invited to attend.
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