Major National Survey of Public Attitudes to Suicide is Welcome – Neville

Dan Neville TD, Fine Gael Deputy Spokesman on Health and Children today (Wednesday) welcomed the launch of a survey on Irish attitudes to suicide saying:

“The Irish Association of Suicidology’s Survey of Public Attitudes to Suicide in Ireland, North and South, conducted on behalf of the Association by Millward Brown IMS is the first such survey conducted on a national basis and is most revealing. Its findings include:

• 83% of respondents in the Republic and 86% in the North do not think that politicians or Government are doing enough to raise awareness of suicide.
• The vast majority of people do not think enough is being done to prevent suicide in Ireland. Suicide has clearly touched the lives of many people in Ireland in some way, therefore many of the attitudes expressed come from some level of ‘direct’ experience.
• In general Irish people are non-judgemental and sympathetic towards the issue of suicide. This empathy is however coupled with a strong desire to see all possible measures taken to prevent suicide. 25% of respondents in the Republic and 22% in the North would not feel ashamed if a member of their family died by suicide.
• The stigma surrounding suicide appears to have eased somewhat – this tendency is further underlined by the strong support for the decriminalisation of the act. 79% of respondents in the Republic and 64% in the North agreed with the decriminalisation of suicide.
• Issues surrounding the morality of suicide and the right to die are contentious and often highly polarising, although people tend to change their view somewhat when the issue of incurable illness is raised. These are all difficult and emotive moral questions which are always likely to cause divisions in society. In general however, most Irish people wish to see maximum efforts made to prevent the suicide of an individual. In no way does ‘understanding’ of suicide translate into an acceptance or complacent attitude towards the issue for most people. 57% in the Republic and 56% in the North disagreed that once someone has decided to complete suicide that nothing can stop them.
• Overall these findings point to a high degree of latent support for organisations that try to prevent suicide and there is much goodwill and understanding available for these organisations to take advantage of, in their efforts to prevent suicide in Ireland.
• Understanding of the plight of a suicidal person is channelled into a desire to see the suicide prevented and a person helped, while ‘myths’ surrounding suicide are not generally subscribed to.
• A majority agree that suicide is a symptom of a mental illness – although this level of association is notably higher in Northern Ireland than in the Republic. In the Republic the view is less clear cut, with a very significant minority (38%) disagreeing that suicide is related to mental illness. In Northern Ireland men and younger people are somewhat less likely to think that this association is the case.
• Alcohol is seen by many as a major contributor to suicide. Almost 7 in 10 people in the Republic and 6 in 10 in Northern Ireland agree that this is the case. Those in the 25-34 year old age group are particularly inclined to hold this view in the Republic – where overall the association seems to be more widespread.”