Großbritannien: Hohe Selbstmordrate der Männer "nationale Tragödie"

In 1981, 2,466 women in the UK took their own lives. Three decades later, thanks to improvements in psychiatric and emergency care medicine, to a range of suicide prevention barriers and policies and, perhaps, to gradual social, political and personal empowerment, the number in 2012 had almost halved to 1,391.

In 1981, 4,129 men in the UK took their own lives. Three decades later, despite improvements in psychiatric and emergency care medicine, a range of suicide prevention barriers and policies and, arguably, some degree of social, political and personal empowerment, the number in 2012 had risen to 4,590.

The latest suicide statistics from the ONS show the greatest gender gulf since records began. The suicide rate for men is now three and a half times that of women. Breaking down the statistics, the most worrying trend is a rise in the rate among men aged 40-44. (...) Clare Wyllie, its head of policy and research, was quoted as saying: "They will grow up expecting by the time they reach mid-life they'll have a wife who will look after them and a job for life in a male industry. In reality they may find that they reach middle age in a very different position. Society has this masculine ideal that people are expecting to live up to. Lots of that has to do with being a breadwinner. When men don't live up to that it can be quite devastating for them."

(...) Our failure to even dent the rate of male suicides over 30 years is a national scandal and a national tragedy. It is a failure that has cost tens of thousands of lives, stolen from us too many friends, fathers, sons, and brothers. To what extent we might have been able to reduce the rates with a concerted effort we cannot know because, shamefully, we have never really tried.

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