The Mercury (Tasmania)
6 May 2006

Break-ups can spark self harm
By Michelle Paine

You don't have to be crazy to kill yourself, says a men's health expert.

Professor John Macdonald said many men who committed suicide had no history
of mental illness or depression.

He said suicide prevention strategies required societal change, not just
medical solutions.

"Despite what many people believe, you don't have to be crazy to kill
yourself," said the Professor of Primary Health at the University of
Western Sydney.

"It's often society, not initially mental health problems, which drives men
to kill themselves."

Men make up 80 per cent of Australian deaths by suicide, and most are aged
25 to 44.

The rate has been rising since 1979.

"We're known for some years it's men in their middle years killing
themselves," Prof Macdonald said.

"We seem as a nation to have turned our eyes away from this fact.

"It's time social factors, like family breakdown and unemployment, are
considered alongside the need to improve mental health resources."

Family break-up and separation from children were common causes, with
separated men six times more likely to kill themselves than separated women.

"In our society, whatever people say, many men end up with very little
contact with their children and that is recorded as putting them at risk.
Of course that can happen to women too," Prof Macdonald said.

"People might then resort to drugs, lose their jobs and they can be
contributing factors.

"A purely medical response to suicide prevention hasn't been enough to
reverse the horrific statistics.

"It is controversial because it means moving things from a medical
perspective and it's a lot harder to deal with social aspects."

Prof Macdonald was a key speaker at a suicide prevention forum in Sydney
this week

Tasmanian suicide prevention officer Tim Johnson, of POSITIVE, said
positive steps could make a difference.

"The challenge really has to be to recognise what it is men in our society
need, coming up with services that fit them rather than making men fit
what's available," he said.

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If you need help, contact Mensline Australia on 1300 789 978, Lifelink
Samaritans on 6331 3355 or Lifeline on 131 114.