In July 2004 I hitch-hiked around the Republic of Ireland, dressed up as Santa Claus (Santa Project), raising awareness about the fact that at the time, we had more deaths due to suicide then road accidents.
Also, at the time, nobody wanted to really talk about the topic. “Dealing with this topic would lead to more suicides”, I was told.
Well, I dealt with the topic and yes, we are now, 11 years later, talking about more suicides then in 2004, but our population has grown a lot too. In 2012 we counted 11.1 out of 100,000 people, whereas in 2004 it was 12.2 out of 100,000. Not much as changed.
This is a sad state of affairs.
In 2011 we officially recorded 554 deaths by suicide. This is the official figure. Fact is, that there were about 50 deaths recorded where the cause was not determined. The majority of those deaths were most probably suicides, too.
In the same year, we counted 186 people, who tragically lost their life as a result of a road accident.
Over the years, the governments have rightly worked very hard to tackle the problem of road deaths in Ireland. However, I am missing the same focused dedication on the reduction of suicides in our society.
Suicide is generally the result of depression. Depression is a mental disorder. Mental disorders are generally approached with a sledge-hammer, in form of medication.
The medication used in “treating” depression is in many cases altering personality, which in turn leads to a different kind of depression.
What we urgently need, is free therapy for people with depression.
As a paedophile you receive a therapy, if you are a rapist you receive a therapy, if you have anger management issues you receive a therapy.
How come we can’t provide therapy for the people amongst us, who suffer from depression?
Do you suffer from depression? Would you like to talk? Get in touch. I’m not a doctor, but I can be a friend.
