Increased binge drinking and drug taking are key factors in the rising rates of suicide among young women, the Irish Association of Suicidology (IAS) said at a conference on suicide prevention in schools yesterday.
Dr John Connolly, secretary of the IAS, said that while the numbers of young women taking their own lives was much lower than men, there was "a worrying trend" in the doubling of the suicide rate among 15-24-year-old women in the past decade. Between 16 and 20 women in this age group took their lives in recent years compared with fewer than 10 in the early 1990s.
"There is an idea abroad in society that women are okay, they can handle it, whereas about 90 women a year of all ages take their lives in Ireland. That's a substantial number in a small country and that needs to be addressed and not forgotten." He said the role of women in society had changed dramatically in recent years and it was well documented that major societal changes affected suicide rates.
"The alarming thing is the binge drinking pattern among young women and that's a big factor. And of course there's the drug culture as well." Dr Connolly called for more support and funding for schools to allow them to provide the necessary suicide prevention services. He said some schools still did not have a policy in place to deal with a suicide.
"A lot more needs to be done. It is frustrating when you talk to teachers about referring people to appropriate services and have them tell you, well, they could be six or 12 months waiting. There are more child and adolescent services around now but not enough. And you have to look at the provision of counselling, especially for young men who don't want to visit a counsellor or psychiatrist."
A recent survey commissioned by the IAS found that 38 per cent of young men had no idea where they could look for help if they felt suicidal.
"There has been a lot of progress. However, to my mind that progress is a little bit too slow and it needs a lot of extra finance. We still have the fifth highest incidence of suicide in the 15-24 age group among our European partners," Dr Connolly said.
Yesterday's conference heard the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) responded to more than 90 critical incidents in schools in the past school year. The incidents varied from suicide, murder, road traffic collisions, accidental death, drowning and sudden death through illness. Maureen Costello of NEPS said the number of such incidents was increasing every year and they were becoming more complex. There were 90 in the 2004/2005 school year compared with 60 in the previous school year.
She said the response from the school within the first 48 hours was "crucial" to the effective management of the incident. Schools with a critical incident management plan were able to cope more effectively, she said.