RORY O’Connor, Professor of Psychology at the University of Stirling, says that although there have been important advances in understanding the risk factors associated with suicide and self-harm in recent years, “we still know little about what protects vulnerable people from risk of suicide”.
Professor O’Connor added: “It is vital that governments, charities and other research funding bodies make such work a priority so we can further understand why some people faced with the same life circumstances die by suicide and others do not.
“Despite the reduction of suicide and self-harm being major national and international priorities, we don’t know enough about which treatments are most effective in reducing suicide risk.
“If we are to achieve our goal of reducing suicide rates throughout the world, we have to redouble our efforts to develop innovative treatments to tackle this tragic personal and social problem.”
Professor O’Connor, who leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory (SBRL) at Stirling, the leading suicide and self harm research group in Scotland, made the comments this week as part of a series of events held in the Western Isles of Scotland, to mark Suicide Prevention Week (10-15 September) and World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September).
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 35 in the UK. In 2010, suicide rates were highest in those aged 45–74 at 17.7 per 100,000 for men and 6.0 per 100,000 for women. There were 4,231 suicides among men (17.0 per 100,000 population) and 1,377 suicides among women (5.3 per 100,000 population) in the UK during 2010. (Office for National Statistics)
For further information into the work being carried out into suicide by the SBRL visit www.suicideresearch.info
If you are suicidal or know someone who is feeing suicidal and would like advice please contact www.breathingspacescotland.co.uk, telephone number 0800 83 85 87 or www.samaritans.org telephone number 08457 90 90 90.
ENDS
Notes for editor:
The Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory (SBRL) at the University of Stirling is led by Professor Rory O’Connor, the President-Elect of the International Academy for Suicide Research and the UK National Representative of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. It has an international reputation for conducting high quality, theoretically-grounded and innovative research and it is the leading suicide and self-harm research group in Scotland. The group also has strong national and international research links and it is always keen to develop new collaborations to advance the understanding and prevention of suicide throughout the world.
The aim of the research conducted within the group is to apply theoretical models derived from different areas of psychology as well as from the social sciences to enhance our understanding of self-harm and suicide.
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Contact: Patricia Hess
Phone: 01786467058
Email: pr@stir.ac.uk
Website: http://www.stir.ac.uk
