Suicide rates among male population in UK
Suicide is considered as the biggest reason of death among men under the age group of 45 in UK (Ons.gov.uk 2017). The term “suicide” can be defined as the deaths which are being caused by intentional self-harm or they are caused by an injury concerned with an undetermined intent (Ons.gov.uk 2017). The males between the age group of 20 to 34 prefer to take their own lives and the men between the age group of 35 to 49 are sometimes self-inflicted(Ons.gov.uk 2017). This condition of the men is due the fact that men have relatively high levels of depression as compared with their female counterparts (Ons.gov.uk 2017). This is often caused by “distressing” life events, which the males find it difficult to handle.
This essay would critically analyze the “Suicide Prevention Strategy”, 2012 along with its different provisions as well as practice. An in-depth discussion would be done on the suicide rates among male population in UK. It would also aim to critically explain the changing awareness regarding the changing landscape in the health and social care. It would identify the different trends in the workplace concerning suicide rates among males in UK. The second part of the essay would reflect on my critical skills, knowledge and attitudes concerning my experiences at the university. An overview of the opportunities has been identified for academic development and the future professionals.
As opined by Haw et al. (2015), the male suicide rates have witnessed a steep increase compared to the females. The most common methods of suicide were strangulation, suffocation and hanging (Haw et al. 2015). Men engage in heavy drinking and hence use self-harm tools which prove to be fatal. Men belonging to the lower level of the social class, who lives in the deprived areas are more likely to commit suicide as compared to those belonging to the affluent class. The most vulnerable group of suicide is the men in their “mid-life” (Haw et al. 2015).
The male: female suicide rate is steadily increasing over the past few years. The main reason for this phenomenon was a sharp decline in the women who are committing suicide. Experts believe that the males are often deprived in their life from various basic privileges. This makes them prone to depression early in their life(Bradshaw 2016). The suicide is often caused due to increased insecurity regarding financial matters. In many cases, the suicide is being caused a marriage breakdown in the personal lives of men. According to Buchbinder (2012), men are known to rely on their wives for emotional support and hence divorce men prefer to end up their lives (Bradshaw 2016). The mid-life men are suffering from mental health issues such as unhappiness, stress, frustration and disturbed family life. Men are known to have less supportive relationships beyond the age group of 30 and this makes them lonely in their lives (Buchbinder 2012). The “emotional” wellbeing of men is also a big cause for driving them to take their own life. They are less likely to recognize their signs of distress and they are also unwilling to take professional support (as compared to women) (Bradshaw 2016). There are other socio-economic reasons such as class, job, education, housing or income which make men vulnerable to suicide. The level of income is high determinant of the suicidal tendencies in males. The unemployed men are more likely to end their life and it increases during economic recession.
Causes of male suicide: socio-economic factors, personality traits, workplace issues
As commented by Hearn (2012), there are several factors which lead to greater occurrence of suicide in males- Personality traits, masculinity, relationship breakdown, challenges in the middle age and others. There are some personality traits which contribute to the successful development of the suicidal thoughts (Bradshaw 2016). These include a feeling of the desire to be “perfect”, brooding, self-confidence and negative feelings. There is a growing concept of the modern man who are progressive, open and emotional. On the other hand, women are less financially dependent on men, as women have made sufficient social progress. Today’s men are caught in between these two thoughts of masculinity and hence they are more prone to emotional imbalance. Hearn (2012) stated that men consider themselves equivalent to masculine standard, which is driven by control, power and authority. If they feel that any of these attributes are being violated, then they have a feeling of defeat and shame (Bradshaw 2016). These mental conditions often drive men towards suicide. Men are known to use proved, violent and effective methods of ending their lives (Douglas 2015). Men who belong to their middle age are often referred to as buffer generation as they are captured between the older generation and the individualistic/young sons (Hearn 2012). There may be multiple stages before the men actually commit suicide. They engage in alcohol or drug abuse, over work, unhealthy lifestyle, gambling and others (Douglas 2015).
The modern-day workplaces are increasingly offering more programs for the employee wellbeing (Hearn 2012). However, there are limited programs available for the mentally disturbed employees. There are such wellness programs concerning the mental health disorders including depression. In UK, an average of 1700 employees ended their lives in the workplace in between the years 2003 and 2010 (Ons.gov.uk 2017). The highest level of the suicide services is observed among the protective services such as firefighters, police, fishing, farming and forestry (Ons.gov.uk 2017).This is because of the fact the men working in the protective services have easy access of guns; hence suicide becomes an easy option (Douglas 2015).Occupation plays a major part in the definition of identity of a person and the associated psychological risks such as stress and depression. Farmers have displayed a high rate of suicide (Douglas 2015). There are several factors in which the farmers suffer from depression due to rural dwelling, lack of access to raw materials, high debt and others. They often suffer from financial hardships, which make them difficult to sustain their lives (Haw et al. 2015). There are professions in which the employees do not get enough time for their personal lives. The thin line of difference between the professional and personal life is blurring at a fast rate, which is one of the primary causes of the workplace suicide (Haw et al. 2015). The workplace suicides were common in the automobile maintenance as well as repair operations (Bongar and Sullivan 2013). The reason for this can be attributed to long term exposure to different chemical solvents. The solvents have a close relation with the emotional instability and depressive symptoms (Townsend 2014). The reason why men prefer to do workplace suicide is that they do not want their family members to know about this fact. The male populations who are employed in the law and enforcement have access to the lethal means and hence their chances of suicide are more (Bongar and Sullivan 2013). There are instances when the employees take up their own lives by taking their official weapons home (Tarrier et al. 2013). The work environment of the office is often negative, which drives the employees to take up their own lives.
Suicide Prevention Strategy of 2012 and its provisions
Suicide Prevention Strategy was formulated in the year 2012 for setting additional ways of reducing the rate of suicides in England (Gov.uk 2017). It also aims to provide better support to the bereaved family with better support facilities. The strategy aims to empowering the groups who are considered high risk groups (Gov.uk 2017). This is done by the application of evidences for the effective utilization of the resources. The Government of UK believes that suicide is more common in men and is often associated with family breakdown, abuse, violence, drugs/alcohol abuse, social abuse and gender inequalities (Gov.uk 2017). The Mental Health Foundation believes that men are more likely to commit suicide as they are less likely to be talk about their depression as compared to their female counterparts (Gov.uk 2017). Males are expected to be tougher and hence they are expected to be silent, stronger and less emotional (Douglas 2015). This often prevents them from sharing their problems with others.
The prevention of suicide is important and it should be done based on selecting the high risk “priority groups” such as young and middle aged men, people with intention of self-harm, people directly involved with criminal justice system, specific occupational groups and other (Simon and Hales 2012). The Government of UK aims to implement effective plan across England which would reduce the instances of suicide in the coming years (Gov.uk 2017). The Suicide Prevention Strategy of the Government aims to provide guidance in the following broad areas (Gov.uk 2017)-
- Expansion of the strategy which would include the instances of prevention of “self-harm” tactics. It is considered as one of the fundamental rights of person (uk 2017).
- All the areas of England are required to produce “multiagency” suicide prevention plan which would cater to the local male population who are susceptible to suicide (uk 2017).
- Improvement of the suicide bereavement support so that a development of the support services can be sought (Rogers and Pilgrim 2014). This would help in the reduction in the number of suicide attempts.
- Better targeting of the suicide in the country and helping out the high-risk groups so that there is considerable decrease in the number of males who decide ending up their own lives (uk 2017).
- Improvement of the data concerning suicide at both local as well as national levels (Simon and Hales 2012). This would help the authority to keep track of the number of suicides in the country.
The suicide prevention profile is available on the website of Government of UK, in which there is the availability of the public available data on the suicide, risk factors, associated preferences and the service contact which is among the groups at an increased risk (Gov.uk 2017).
The employers should be more considerate regarding improving the mental health of the employees. They have an opportunity to educate the employees regarding having work life balance and motivate them (Halpern 2014). Motivation is important as it would lead to higher productivity as well as improve the psychological well-being of the employees (Clarke and Lester 2013). Suicide is one of the multifactorial outcome in which there is involvement of multiple opportunities of intervening in the personal life of the people. “National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Research Prioritization Task Force” argues that in order to reduce the number of suicide, it is important to train the number of people who would be trained in the risk management and suicide assessment (Wertheimer 2013). It is also important to implement effective as well as evidence –based programs in which there would be focus on the training of the individuals (Simon and Hales 2012). The modern-day organizations should be considered as a potential place for implementing such programs as well as trains the managers who would be successful in detecting the unusually suicidal symptoms in their employee base (Baer 2015). There is the involvement of two components in the successful strategy of suicide prevention- observation and education. Society has progressed; however, there are people who are still unable to overcome the stigma of the mental health (Mishara and Kerkhof 2013). They are not comfortable to discuss the issue of mental health in public and hence this type of psychological ailment goes unnoticed (Simon and Hales 2012). It is the duty of the Government of the countries to change the concept of mental health from taboo to something which can be discussed openly (Simon and Hales 2012).
Importance of identifying high-risk groups and providing support
The employee participation is important when the employers are trying to curb the menace of suicide (Zeidner Matthews and Roberts 2012). Men should be encouraged to discuss about their issues with a male counselor and they should be encouraged for taking assistance. The organizations can launch a “Workplace Mental Health Portal” for the internal employees (Rubin and Bellamy 2012). This would contribute a valuable resource to the company if it is implemented well in the workplace. It would also provide a non-threatening atmosphere in which the victims of mental health would be able to talk freely with their counterparts (Zeidner Matthews and Roberts 2012). It would perform a depression assessment to know their level of depression or suicidal tendencies (Zeidner Matthews and Roberts 2012). The workplaces should take active part in the prevention of suicides and create increased level of suicide awareness (Stillion and McDowell 2015). The organizations should take active part in improving the mental health of the employees by improving the employee satisfaction levels.
There are various career opportunities in the prevention of suicide. There are opportunities for suicide prevention counselor, psychologist, general social worker, child/family social worker, clinical social worker, substance abuse counselor, social services manager and others (Palmer 2014). There is an increasing trend to come in offbeat professions by the young professionals. This is because of the fact that the young generation has started to understand the fact that ending life is not a solution to the problem (Capuzzi and Golden 2013). It is true that suicide leads to devastation in the lives of the family and people. This is the reason the career options for addressing the issue of suicide is on the rise (Capuzzi and Golden 2013).
I have developed skills, attitudes and knowledge in the course of the program, in which I have been exposed to a variety of different concepts. This would also help me to identify the different opportunities in my surroundings which would help me to develop as mental health professional. I realized that it is important to engage in personal development while pursuing academic or professional interests. I have involved in holistic advancements of my various attributes. When I was in high school, I was afraid of speaking in public as I lacked sufficient knowledge and also had stage-fear. But, after the completion of the course, I was more confident about myself and my stage fright was reduced to certain extent. I engaged in gathering of more knowledge through online and offline sources. I engaged in reading books, journals and interacting with my friends working in different industries. This gave me industry insights and I became more confident.
The course has helped me to improve my knowledge as well as my performance so that I can become more confident about myself. I felt that my communication skills were not good. I realized this backlog in my reflective practice lesson. However, during the course, I interacted with my peers and performed group activities, which reduced my fear while talking with others. This enabled me to contact others without the fear that how they would interpret me. In relation to the Critical Friend Model, I developed my friendship with one of my colleagues, whom I can trust and she has always provided me with actual feedback of my work. I get different perspective of my work while I interact with her and this has helped me to work on my shortcomings and improve my work performance.
As per my academic goals, I have decided that I have to improve my results in the University. My five-year goals include improving my marks in the University and then secure a good job in my domain. I have learnt that I need to be critical in analyzing viewpoints and different level of understanding is needed for interpreting the meanings of the journals and different articles. I have set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) which would help me to excel in my professional endeavor.
I have also undergone sufficient professional as well as academic development after going through the course. I have learnt that there are several career alternatives that are associated with the suicide prevention. My self-confidence increased and I have also improved my life satisfaction. This would help me to be a better person in my personal life. The course also helps me in my professional life. I have learnt that there are sufficient career opportunities. I would be able to contribute positively towards my organization. I would be able to give my best efforts towards my organization as I would be able to contribute to my organization. It would also help me to achieve my future goals. I am able to gain in depth understanding of the workplace skills and it would also improve my employability prospects. It would help me to gain motivation as I would be able to give good performance. I would be able to give my knowledge to the development of the society. If I am able to help the society with my acquired skills, knowledge and expertise, then my professional goals would be achieved. I would be happy to give my service to my society.
Conclusion
Suicide is considered as one of the prime causes of death in UK men especially for the mid-life men. There is a significant increase in the suicide rates of men in the past few years. The most common methods of suicide were strangulation, suffocation and hanging. There are varieties of reasons for which the men commit suicide. They find it difficult to cope up with the emotional pressure or they go through acute financial crisis. The purpose of this report was to understand the instances of suicide cases in the male population and understanding the changing landscape in the mental healthcare sector. This has been successfully achieved after the completion of the course. Special emphasis has been laid on the Suicide Prevention Strategy, which is being formulated to reduce the instances of suicide in England. The instance of workplace suicide is also discussed in detail. It is predicted that in the near future, the instances of suicide may further increase if there are no preventive measures taken. It is important to take note of the conversation as people often give hints that show their suicidal feelings. It is important to share the feelings of a grief-stricken, upset and depressed person. The victims always show the signs of mental illness. If anyone identifies a person who has suicidal tendencies, then they should be taken to a professional counsellor. It is important to help the males who surround us (who show suicidal tendencies). This is because of the fact this small steps would help in curbing the menace of suicide. This essay has helped in broadening the understanding of suicide cases among males in UK.
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