What is mental health? Suicide

Some people want to die. Some try to take their life. Suicide is one of the most complicated facets of the human condition.

Suicide used to be a crime in the UK then it became something which the psychiatric system dealt with. Suicide in Japan used to be a punishment. People would be forced to kill themselves by the state.

There is a historical divide in attitudes to suicide. The Eastern cultures are somewhat ambivalent. In India widows would throw themselves onto the funeral pyre where there recently deceased husband was being cremated. In cultures of the Semetic tradition, I.e. Islam, Judaism and Christianity suicide was alsways taboo.

Psychiatry is a construct of those cultures. As the dogma of psychiatry is spreading to the East perhaps their attitudes to suicide will change.

There is an extraordinary statistic which is rarely quoted. 90% of suicides are because of mental illness. I think it is Edwin Schniedman who calculated it but I'm not sure.

10% of people kill themselves but are not mentally ill. I question which definition of mental illness is being used. I assume it is the biomedical one but the test wouldn't be biological.

Studies do show brain differences. Differences are found in serotonin receptors according to The Neurobiology of Suicide by...james man I think.

Suicide can be triggered by life events. It can be a temporary reaction - or over reaction - which some people experience.

Suicide can be a symptom of depression or other diagnoses. It is common in schizophrenia. Schziophurenics account for 20% of the UK annual completed suicides.

It can be something someone thinks about but never acts upon. It can be something someone experiences once and never again. It can also haunt a person for their entire life until they finally complete the act.

If at all possible, everyone but the suicidal person wants them to live. This can make what is often a very lonely process even more lonely. There is a strong association between isolation and suicide but I don't know what is cause and what is effect.

The system which stops people killing themselves is the psychiatric and mental healthcare system. They are empowered to do so by the people and the experiences and voices of those who've survived and recovered.

So far I've written nothing on suicide. Not the tip of the iceberg.

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