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Facts
Introduction
Suicide is a major and complex problem within our society with widespread individual, family and community ramifications. The terrible waste of human potential extends beyond the loss of individual life, to the psychological and emotional effects on bereaved families and individuals, some of whose grief is made more complicated by the suddenness of the death.
Kyle, aged 16, lived with his mother, a sole parent, and his two sisters. Kyle was the target of bullying at school, and his family had no idea of the extent to which the bullying had affected him. His mother reported it to the school and steps were being taken to prevent it, but to Kyle the situation had become too difficult to bear. He ended his life, leaving a diary which expressed his feelings of lack of self worth, hopelessness and fear. Kyle's family is devastated. His mother suffers depression and his younger teenage sister is displaying psychological symptoms that require medical attention.
Given suicide's nature and complexity, our community has much more to discover and understand about the causes of suicidal behaviour and how to prevent it effectively. Today more than ever, our understanding has increased regarding the risk factors for suicide, and measures that can provide some protection against a person dying from suicide. However, our community still has a major task ahead of it to lower the suicide rate. We propose to do this by undertaking further research to discover precise causes, by formulating and delivering public education programs and by developing the best facilities to effectively manage and prevent suicidal behaviour.
Facts:
Suicide ranks in the top ten causes of death in most western countries. In Australia, suicide is now the leading cause of death by injury, ahead of car accidents and homicides. Suicide is approximately four times more prevalent in males than females. The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures indicate that suicide is most common in people aged 25 to 49, accounting for more than half of all suicides (ABS, 2004 Release). Among adolescents (12-24 years), suicide accounted for 25% of all male deaths and 15% of all female deaths in 2002. Furthermore, in Queensland, the suicide rate has been higher than the national rate for each of the past eleven years. Although rates have decreased slightly in the past few years, suicide mortality rates in Australia still rank in the top third of all countries.
The economic, health and social costs associated with suicide are also high. The latest accurate research comes from 1994 findings which suggests that the cost of suicide in Australia, while difficult to estimate due to flow-on effects, total approximately $460 million for fatal suicides, with a further $460 million for suicidal attempts.