R U OK?

[ozleicester]

The 13th of Sept was R U OK day in Aust (not sure about world wide). So far it hasnt had a massive impact, but im sure this will grow over coming years.

http://www.ruokday.c...ay/our-mission/

I can only hope that it helps and makes us all think a little more about helping people and preventing suicide.

In Australia in 2009 - 1509 people died in Road Accidents

In Australia in 2009 - 2132 people died from Suicide

We spend millions telling people to drive slower when its an unfortunarte fact that driving cars will result in traffic accidents... just divert some of that wasted advertising money from cars to mental health................it is truly horrific that so many valuable lives were lost when so many of them are preventable if we just spent some more time and money trying to help.

By the way... if you are in OZ....

R U Ok?

Lifeline - 13 11 14

Kids Helpline 1800 551 800

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Our toilets, tea rooms and common areas are all covered in posters about this and yesterday we all had an R U OK? buisness card thing left on our desk.....best part was a kit kat was attached to it.

Our intranet has a massive read up and links, telling us to take leave if needed or to purchase leave if required, anxiety check lists. Identify stress check list. Plus there was 4 different seminars yesterday on depression, anixiety etc. Even an application form for work to pay for your sessions with a proffesional councillor.

I think especially in the corprate sector there is a big push to assist people and identify these sort of issues.

[sphericalfox]

I thought this was going to be about a classic Frank Skinner gag

[MPH]

Suicide rates in Australia are at an all time low, if i am not mistaken... .. Its clearly working and a good idea and surely something similar should be done over here....

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Suicide rates in Australia are at an all time low, if i am not mistaken... .. Its clearly working and a good idea and surely something similar should be done over here....

Not sure but it has dropped by 22% since 2000. Not sure how this is calculated just read it recently. Also an alarming figure is that over 70% of the total suicides in Australia is from men.

According to this you are correct, well at least trending down.

[ozleicester]

Not sure but it has dropped by 22% since 2000. Not sure how this is calculated just read it recently. Also an alarming figure is that over 70% of the total suicides in Australia is from men.

According to this you are correct, well at least trending down.

I think this is only the teens, I think that the lowest year was around 2004 (for all people) and it has been back on the increase since then.

Apart from more funding which is essential, i believe we need to talk about suicide more, the media has a rule that they will not discuss or cover suicide, but that is antiquated and outdated. Hiding the problem does nothing to solve it.

[Charl91]

People must really not like Australia

[Fox92]

They should try living here.

[cambridgefox]

I was in Aus in 91,which was the highest year for men and one of the lowest for women.coincidence?

[Guest]

I was in Aus in 91,which was the highest year for men and one of the lowest for women.coincidence?

[lavrentis]

It's quite good in the UK, we have a relatively low suicide rate.

[Daggers]

It's quite good in the UK, we have a relatively low suicide rate.

We've seen a massive jump in suicides in middle aged men over the last 18 months due to the impact of the government's policies...to the extent that it now outstrips suicide among the young.

Good news though -

Today, MPs voted in favour of the Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill. The Bill will put an end to archaic laws which discriminate against people who experience mental health problems.

We’d like to thank everyone who tweeted and emailed their MPs asking them to support the Bill. We’ll keep you posted on the Bill’s progress through its next stages.

http://bit.ly/U1Qjht

[Zingari]

We've seen a massive jump in suicides in middle aged men over the last 18 months due to the impact of the government's policies...to the extent that it now outstrips suicide among the young.

Good news though -

how do you know the suicide rate among middle aged men is due to the impact of gov. policies ?

it might be the long term result of middle aged men using drugs in their youth or any other number of factors .

[Guest MattP]

We've seen a massive jump in suicides in middle aged men over the last 18 months due to the impact of the government's policies...to the extent that it now outstrips suicide among the young.

Impact of this governments Policies, or over a financial situation caused mainly by the last government?

And is there any proof that they are killing themselves due to this governments policies? Have you see the suicide notes? Proof?

[Daggers]

how do you know the suicide rate among middle aged men is due to the impact of gov. policies ?

it might be the long term result of middle aged men using drugs in their youth or any other number of factors .

When I find a link to the research I'll post it - but it was pretty unequivocal in the linking to salary drops, redundancy, house price drops, house market stagnation, the rise in the price of food and the cost increase of leccy/gas/water.

Food banks are currently opening across the country at twice the rate reported at the beginning of the year, servicing mainly those in employment who can no longer afford to feed their families adequately.

[MooseBreath]

The current crop of early 40s men are the demographic with the highest suicide risk. They were also the highest risk when they were in their 20s. The current economic struggle might be setting them off, but the root cause was in their upbringing. They were given false expectations. That and I guess probably listening to 80s music.

[Zingari]

When I find a link to the research I'll post it - but it was pretty unequivocal in the linking to salary drops, redundancy, house price drops, house market stagnation, the rise in the price of food and the cost increase of leccy/gas/water.

Food banks are currently opening across the country at twice the rate reported at the beginning of the year, servicing mainly those in employment who can no longer afford to feed their families adequately.

I'm not disagreeing with you and i wouldn't say it wasn't a factor , but surely it's going to be more complex than that . We've had to deal with far worse times than this in history .

Maybe we drink a lot more alcohol causing depression etc ( i certainly do) than men used to , maybe we just aren't as tough as our forefathers ( i'm not ) due to changes in society , i dont know , but i doubt it's down to a singular cause however much political spin is put on it .

[MooseBreath]

I also suspect a lot of people who commit suicide have some serious skeletons in their closet, but that's just speculation.

[Zingari]

I also suspect a lot of people who commit suicide have some serious skeletons in their closet, but that's just speculation.

good point , more and more men are getting outed for sins of the past .

i wouldn't think it's had a massive effect on the suicide rate , but i'd say it could affect it somewhat

[Guest MattP]

I'm not disagreeing with you and i wouldn't say it wasn't a factor , but surely it's going to be more complex than that . We've had to deal with far worse times than this in history .

Maybe we drink a lot more alcohol causing depression etc ( i certainly do) than men used to , maybe we just aren't as tough as our forefathers ( i'm not ) due to changes in society , i dont know , but i doubt it's down to a singular cause however much political spin is put on it .

Certainly wouldn't argue with that. 60-70 years ago I think people just had to pull themselves together and carry on whatever their problems were.

[RobHawk]

I hate text speak!!

[21st Century Fox]

Certainly wouldn't argue with that. 60-70 years ago I think people just had to pull themselves together and carry on whatever their problems were.

...

The researchers found suicide rates spiked during the Great Depression (1929-1933), at the end of the New Deal (1937-1938), during the oil crisis of 1973-1975, and the double-dip recession of 1980-1982.

But fewer people killed themselves during periods of economic expansion, such as the World War II years (1939-1945) and between 1991 and 2001, when the economy grew rapidly and unemployment was low.

During the Great Depression, the suicide rate jumped from 18.0 per 100,000 in 1928 to 22.1 per 100,000 in 1932, which was an all-time high. The 22.8% increase over that four-year period was a record, according to the report.

[21st Century Fox]

[Daggers]

We've had to deal with far worse times than this in history .

Aside from the 30s, when?

[Guest BlueBrett]

Don't think there is a direct link between economics and suicide. I don't know obviously but I imagine most suicides are due to guilt because you can escape pretty much anything else (I've always thought I'd move to the Caribbean and fish for a living if I ****ed everything else up). I suppose there may well be an indirect link though in that people are probably more likely to do things they will later feel ashamed of in times of economic hardship.