evidence and personal experience.
In a paper I read about Sri Lanka it said the really high suicide rate
was due to the availability of high lethality methods and healthcare
systems not setup to treat suicide attempts. The author noted that the
suicide rate in men in the North of Sri Lanka slightly decreased during
the bitter and bloody civil war especially in young men, however I think
he said the suicide rate in women went up.
The annoying thing is I don't know if the suicide rate includes suicide
bombings. The LTTE (the guerrilla resistance movement based in the North
of Sri Lanka and nicknamed the Tamil Tigers).
Rationally most people would assume that a war would be pretty bad for
mental health. The Sri Lanka civil war was one of the most bitter
struggles in the late 20th century. When it ended last year there were
20,000 civilians trapped on a beach. They were effectively a human
shield between the Tiger's last stand and the advancing onslaught of the
Sri Lankan military. It was an ineffective human shield. The civilians
were bombarded by artillery fire and bombs. The opening scenes of Saving
Private Ryan might give an inkling as to what it was like on that beach,
a beach where a tsunami had hit a few Christmas's ago. It's the sort of
horror that can't really be treated by antidepressants.
Would you like to know what it's like there at the moment? Even though
80,000 Tamil civilians are still being illegally detained in government
camps, living in squalid conditions with the threat of execution if they
run and people 'disappearing' from the camps as well as reports of
torture and rape by the guards the mood of the people is also reported
to be good. Amongst the rubble and the fear their loved ones may never
return they have the joy of peace. It is something that we don't
remember in the West, what it feels like not to be at war. I would have
thought that would make anyone happy? But we're used to it. The Tamil
civilans are happy knowing they can finally buy a big TV one day,
because they'll never have to carry it when they have to flee from their
homes ever again. That's not a pleasure that's ever been felt in the UK.
The problem with my rambling mind is that I forget the point I was
trying to make and I've probably bored the reader by the time the get to
what I'm trying to say.
Some men are made for what a war provides. It gives them purpose and a
reason to live. It provides traditonal male role models. War is simple
and the answers are simple. I am not saying that this is a reason to be
at war, what I am saying is that understanding why the suicide rate in
young men in a civil war decreases while the suicide rate in women
increases could be applied to the suicide rate problem in young men in
the UK.
The French used to have a system at least in the films I've seen about
the Foreign Legion. It was an alternative to suicide and a culturally
acceptable one.
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