An article examined a range of social, cultural, and health-related factors that might explain the high suicide risk in Scotland compared with England. Overall, the contribution of socio-economic deprivation and social fragmentation was found to be relatively small. Any attempt to reverse the divergent trend in suicide between Scotland and England would require initiatives to prevent and treat mental ill-health, and to tackle alcohol and drug misuse.
Source: Pearl Mok, Alastair Leyland, Navneet Kapur, Kirsten Windfuhr, Louis Appleby, Stephen Platt, and Roger Webb, 'Why does Scotland have a higher suicide rate than England? An area-level investigation of health and social factors', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 67 Number 1
Links: Abstract | BBC report
Date: 2012-Dec
A report for the children's rights watchdog in Northern Ireland examined ways to support and protect young people at risk of suicide. Recommendations included: developing a decision-making tool to identify childhood adversities linked to poorer outcomes; making children identified as at risk of suicide subject to an agreed intervention plan; and providing professionals in greatest contact with young people with training on identifying and responding to depression.
Source: John Devaney, Lisa Bunting, Gavin Davidson, David Hayes, Anne Lazenbatt, and Trevor Spratt, Still Vulnerable: The impact of early childhood experiences on adolescent suicide and accidental death, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People
Links: Report | NICCY press release
Date: 2012-Nov
An article said that people who had a history of self-harm were more than three times as likely to die prematurely as the general population.
Source: Helen Bergen, Keith Hawton, Keith Waters, Jennifer Ness, Jayne Cooper, Sarah Steeg, and Navneet Kapur, 'Premature death after self-harm: a multicentre cohort study', The Lancet, 3 November 2012
Links: Abstract | Oxford University press release
Date: 2012-Nov
A report evaluated a suicide prevention strategy in Northern Ireland. There had been strong support for, and commitment to, the strategy from all those surveyed, and there was strong and continuing input from families and the community and voluntary sectors.
Source: Evaluation of the Implementation of the NI Protect Life Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan 2006–2011, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report | NIE press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A report said that there needed to be more awareness about self-harm among young people, parents, and professionals. There was little open communication on the issue, and 'considerable scope for stigma and fear'. Parents associated a young person self-harming with failing as a parent and over one-third said that they would not seek help. Nearly 4 out of 5 young people say that they did not know where to turn for advice about self-harm.
Source: Talking Self-Harm, YoungMinds/Cello Group
Links: Report | YoungMinds press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Oct
The coalition government published a new cross-government strategy on preventing suicide in England. It said that economic problems were likely to have a bearing on suicide rates, particularly in middle-aged men.
Source: Preventing Suicide in England: A cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives, Department of Health
Links: Strategy | Hansard | DH press release | MHF press release | Mind press release | MHN press release | RCN press release | Sane press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined whether those English regions that had been worst affected by the economic recession of 2008–2010 had had the greatest increases in suicides. It provided evidence that the English regions with the largest rises in unemployment had had the largest increases in suicides, particularly among men.
Source: Ben Barr, David Taylor-Robinson, Alex Scott-Samuel, Martin McKee, and David Stuckler, 'Suicides associated with the 2008–10 economic recession in England: time trend analysis', British Medical Journal, 14 August 2012
Links: Article | Liverpool University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Aug
Date: 2012-Jun
A new book drew on the experiences of 25 people who cut, burned, or otherwise injured themselves to examine the phenomenon of self-injury. It used an original theoretical concept – the 'trajectory' of suffering – to explain patterns of self-injury.
Source: Theresa McShane, Blades, Blood and Bandages: The experiences of people who self-injure, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-May
An article examined the impact of recent changes in suicide rates in men aged under 45 years on the geographic distribution of suicide in England and Wales, for the period 1981-2005.
Source: David Gunnell, Ben Wheeler, Shu-Sen Chang, Bethan Thomas, Jonathan Sterne, and Danny Dorling, 'Changes in the geography of suicide in young men: England and Wales 1981-2005', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 66 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
An article compared changing patterns of suicide risk in Scotland with those in England and Wales, over the period 1960-2008. Much of the recent divergence in rates was attributable to the rise in suicide among young men and deaths by hanging in Scotland. Introduction of the 'undetermined intent' category in 1968 had had a significant impact on suicide statistics across Great Britain, but especially so in Scotland.
Source: Pearl Mok, Navneet Kapur, Kirsten Windfuhr, Alastair Leyland, Louis Appleby, Stephen Platt, and Roger Webb, 'Trends in national suicide rates for Scotland and for England and Wales, 1960-2008', British Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 200 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined the influence of ethnicity on suicide, and related risk indicators including psychiatric symptoms, among patients committing suicide although admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Classical suicide risk indicators were significantly more common among white British inpatients than other ethnic groups.
Source: Kamaldeep Bhui, Sokratis Dinos, and Kwame McKenzie, 'Ethnicity and its influence on suicide rates and risk', Ethnicity and Health, Volume 17 Issue 1-2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
The professional regulatory body for doctors began a consultation on guidance for its decision-makers when they were considering allegations about a doctor's involvement in encouraging or assisting suicide.
Source: Guidance for the Investigation Committee and Case Examiners When Considering Allegations About a Doctor's Involvement in Encouraging or Assisting Suicide: A draft for consultation, General Medical Council
Links: Guidance | GMC press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Feb
A study found a positive link between improvements in mental health services and a reduction in suicide rates.
Source: David While, Harriet Bickley, Alison Roscoe, Kirsten Windfuhr, Shaiyan Rahman, Jenny Shaw, Louis Appleby, and Navneet Kapur, 'Implementation of mental health service recommendations in England and Wales and suicide rates, 1997 2006: a cross-sectional and before-and-after observational study', The Lancet Online first 2 February 2012
Links: Abstract | Paper | Manchester University press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined an approach to researching the sociology of suicide that drew on the tradition of psychological autopsies of suicide. It also offered some examples of substantive findings concerning the gendered character of men's suicides.
Source: Jonathan Scourfield, Ben Fincham, Susanne Langer, and Michael Shiner, 'Sociological autopsy: an integrated approach to the study of suicide in men', Social Science & Medicine, Volume 74 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the relationship between suicide mortality and social expenditure in 26 European countries; attitudes towards welfare systems and their relationship with suicide mortality; and attitudes towards welfare provision in eastern and western Europe. Higher social expenditure and greater confidence in welfare provision appeared to have suicide-preventive effects.
Source: Andriy Yur'yev, Airi Varnik, Peeter Varnik, Merike Sisask, and Lauri Leppik, 'Role of social welfare in European suicide prevention', International Journal of Social Welfare, Volume 21 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jan
A commission report said that the existing legal status of assisted suicide was 'inadequate and incoherent'. The legal regime could be distressing for the people affected and their families, was unclear for health and social care staff, and placed a 'deeply challenging' burden on police and prosecutors. A new statutory framework was laid out in detail in the report, including strict criteria for defining who might be eligible to receive assistance, and robust safeguards to prevent abuse.
Source: The Commission on Assisted Dying, Commission on Assisted Dying
Links: Report | HOC research brief | BHA press release | CARE press release | Church of England press release | Dignity in Dying press release | NSS press release | Scope press release | SPUC press release | Christian Institute report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jan