Chan, K. 2005, Charcoal-burning suicide in post-transition Hong Kong,
BJPsych
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/186/1/67
The successful suicide rate shot up by 25% in the five years after the
transition to Chinese rule. The
A new method to commit suicide was invented by someone and the story
(and method) published in the media. I feel wary posting this
information up in case there are any suicidal people (apart from me) who
might read this and use it. If you think it's a bad idea for me to have
this post on the blog please comment.
The reason wasn't directly the transition. There was an economic crisis
around the time caused by George Soros if I remember right (that's who
the Malaysians blame anyway).
Here's a snip from the paper.
#"
Last, as the enquiries and analyses unfolded, it became apparent that
credit card debts and financial strain were overrepresented among people
who had died by this method. To understand why there was a culture of
overspending and over-indebtedness in the peritransitional period, we
interviewed four key informants from the lending and banking sectors.
"
I'm mildly annoyed by the author's use of language here. He's described
the period as the peritransitional period which makes it seem like it
was the shift from UK to Chinese rule rather than the economic crisis
facing the Asian economies at the time.
And another.
"
The ethnographic account helped us understand the evolution of an
indebtedness culture in post-transition Hong Kong. Before the handover,
Hong Kong had experienced a decade-long economic boom: during this
period the property market rose by over 600% (Woodroffe, 1997; Pang,
1999) and the stock market by over 400% (Hong Kong Stock Exchange,
1999). Fuelled by a sense of inflated wealth, a segment of the
population overspent by shopping impulsively, investing speculatively or
gambling precariously (see Appendix).
Such 'irrational exuberance' was not sustainable after the post-1997
economic downturn, during which unemployment eventually reached a
historic high of 8.3% in 2003. In 1997, however, few were able to
foresee that the recession would last more than a few years, and that
the property and stock markets would eventually plummet by more than
50%. Hence, many Hong Kong residents initially maintained their spending
pattern and continued to take on credit. Some compensated for salary
reductions, inadequate employment or even transient unemployment by
borrowing through personal loans and credit cards.
Many informants we interviewed were initially unaware of the high
interest rate charged for credit-card debt. Even worse, as the debts
snowballed at an interest rate of around 30% and the larger economic
climate did not improve, many applied for additional cards to cover
their growing debt. At that time, it was easy for people to be granted a
number of credit cards from different banks and lenders (see Appendix);
our informants in this study each had an average of four credit cards.
The most extreme case was that of a man who had 15 credit cards and a
credit limit of 400 000 Hong Kong dollars (approximately £28 000), 33
times his monthly income. From a population perspective, the refinancing
crisis reached its climax in the first quarter of 2002 when the rollover
amount of all credit card lending amounted to HKD 15 819 (about £1130)
per household, about 85% of the median household income (Hong Kong
Monetary Authority, 2003). For most people this re-financing and
overindebtedness trajectory would carry on until the minimum monthly
payment of all cards and loans together exceeded the household's
disposable income. Alternatively, the trajectory would come to an end
when the debtor became unemployed. When repayments failed, a record
would be filed in the negative credit databank, and no further card or
loan could be applied for, this ended the re-financing spiral, and
before long the debt collectors would be called in. The debtors soon
became hopeless and suicidal, especially when they realised that they
would not be able to clear the mountains of debt in the foreseeable
future. The suicidal thoughts eventually turned into action, often
precipitated by relentless harassment from the debt collectors. Also,
Hong Kong financial institutions (including banks and credit companies)
have the highest interest rates in the world (Hong Kong Consumer
Council, 2002).
"
I think Chris Fitch has also examined the debt spiral in the UK.
It's hard to draw conclusions on whether this effect may be seen in the
UK. What's extraordinary is the number of suicides using this new method
that also had credit problems. This same pattern wasn't seen in other
suicides.
The prevailing factors in HK are common in the UK today. The country has
been run on debt after the destigmatisation of personal debt in the
1970s. The credit industry aggressively targets those who have poor
ability to manage their finances (for the most profit) whereas those who
manage their credit well are essentially less preferred customers. I
remember being in on incapacity benefit, in temporary accomodation and
in £40,000 of crisis debt (debt without a payment for 4 or 5 months)
after a suicide attempt because of my debts and still got an offer of a
loan of £10,000 at an exorbitant interest rate..
My fear is for the lives of the half a milion or so public sector
workers facing the axe in the future. Many will have used the freely
available consumer credit system to fund their lifestyle to be better
than relatively poor public sector wages allow for. I've been there
myself. There's no job creation schemes to get them back into work and
they have a different skills set to what's looked for in the private
sector. When people take out debt it's with the false assumption that
they'll be able to meet the monthly payments because they'll be in
continuous employment. For many, irrespective of mental illness or
sanity, this isn't true. Debt without the income to pay off the minimum
amount starts a spiral which can end in suicide.
Thw welfare system was also decimated. More people will be accessing the
welfare system yet there have been many cuts planned. The shift in
quality of life and social status will be far more jarring, and I guess
far more likely to end up with people getting so miserable they kill
themselves.
The UK media are thankfully much better than I at not reporting suicide
methods. It's noteworthy the link to information on CO methods in the
paper no longer links to an active page. The Wikipedia suicide methods
seems to have been changed to make it less clear which is the most
reliable method. This may not reduce the attempted suicide rate, a rate
which falls far short of the true number of attempts.
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