Suicide must urgently be addressed

antrim | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Saturday August 07, 2004 12:16 by S.Fleming

Suicide is now clearly an issue of deep concern which must be addressed urgently and is a societal problem.

I would like to make a comment on the recent tragic suicide of Fiona Barnes in W.Belfast and the media reaction to this. Suicide is now clearly an issue of deep concern which must be addressed urgently and is a societal problem. Many of the media interviews though have involved psychiatrists and mental health professionals which seemed to be suggesting that this was a medical issue. The comments of Father Rooney at the funeral were in my view particularly incisive and relevant. He drew attention to the socio –economic discriminatory treatment that west Belfast in particular has seen over many years and the effects this has on people. I personally believe that there are real difficulties in the issue of suicide being medicalised or in implying that it may be related to some psychiatric ‘disorder’.

As the comments of most community workers and people in the areas affected will testify the main contributing factors would appear to be societal and environmental ones. People are therefore very often driven to despair as a result of life experiences. This medicalisation of their problems should therefore in my view be resisted. Psychiatric interventions in communities affected by suicide are at best cosmetic and only mask the real underlying problems. The setting up of therapeutic housing projects run by young people and dedicated members of the community where young people can work through the problems and issues in their lives may be the best way forward. The emphasis should be on addressing what is driving people to despair through social and educational projects and how that can best be tackled. It is their views that must be prioritised and not those of the professional mental health lobby.