Mental Health Day casts spotlight on suicide

Worldwide, suicide is the third major cause of death in young people aged between 15 and 34, with those suffering from severe depression and alcoholism being most at risk.

Malta has a low, stable rate of suicide with an average of 4.8 cases per 100,000 people taking their lives over the past 10 years. Between January and August this year 18 suicides were reported.

This sensitive topic came under the spotlight yesterday during a half-day seminar organised by the Richmond Foundation to mark World Mental Health Day.

The theme of the seminar, chaired by Parliamentary Secretary Helen D'Amato, was Building Awareness - Reducing Risk: Suicide And Suicide Prevention.

Health Minister Louis Deguara said the suicide rate in Europe varied between 44 for every 100,000 persons in Lithuania to 3.6 for every 100,000 in Greece.

However, these figures did not include the fact that in most European countries, for every suicide there was an average of 15 failed attempts.

This is something that Richmond chief executive Doris Gauci highlighted during her address.

"Being such a small island where suicide is still shrouded in stigma and still associated with guilt and shame, the extent of the problem could be hidden," she said.

Ms Gauci spoke of the importance for doctors, especially GPs, to be trained to detect the symptoms, since more often than not they were the first contact with these people.

Among her recommendations was the need for "community gatekeepers", such as priests and prison wardens, to be better educated in the sector. She highlighted the need for services that would provide immediate help for those in a crisis, as well as a support programme for those who had attempted to commit suicide.

She appealed to the government to look in depth at what was happening in Malta so that together they could help tackle this problem.

Anton Grech, consultant psychiatrist, said 70 per cent of suicides were caused by depression.

Labour MP Joseph Abela gave a frank, moving talk to share the experience of losing his 28-year-old brother Marius in May 2002.

"I was having coffee with my friends when a relative called and asked me to rush home. I drove there tense not knowing what to expect. When I got there I saw a police car. My mother broke the news that my brother had taken his life," he said.

"Marius was an ingenious man who loved nature and never gave up. However, through his later years he was gripped by a mental condition. We endured Calvary with him. We lived each day in the hope that the next would be better. It wasn't."

Mr Abela called on society to drop its prejudices and insisted that stigma only served to trip up the person who was facing problems.

"We have to keep in mind that we are living in a society which is getting richer in material goods and poorer in value. We need to question why young people are chasing death through excessive drugs, alcohol and sex," he said.

He had one last appeal to society: "Don't add to the family's suffering with your prejudice. We believe respect is our right".