Atheist Ireland Forum

A quick search in the Irish Times toolbar with the keyword suicide reveals that there is at least one story everyday related to the act. Suicide rates are up since 2008; economic recessions can be measured in lives lost as well as euros lost. The statistical typical victim is male and early twenties but otherwise the profile can be any member of society.

People need help at vulnerable times in their lives. The Church often does a great job of helping people who are down on their luck - offering them someone to talk to, support network of similar people and even sometimes financial assistance. The Church often does the opposite. Church doctrine in the demonetization of homosexuality and abortion isn't unlinked to the disproportionate numbers of gays and confused women hurting themselves.

I would like to know what efforts are being made by secular bodies in alleviating this burden from society? The only secular one I can think of is one available to students in UCD in TCD.

Despite the religious sounding name, The Samaritans is a secular organisation not linked to any religious organisation in any way.

http://www.niteline.ie/ for universities.

I did not know that. I guess the biblical references induced assumptions.

Yeah, niteline was the one I was thinking of.

Googling "suicide helpline"....

http://www.1life.ie/AboutUs.html

http://www.3ts.ie/about.htm

http://www.recover.ie/info.php?to_one=9
which recommends:
Samaritans: 1850 60 90 90 (open 24 hours a day)
Aware Helpline: 01-6766166 (open 7 days a week from 10am-10pm)
Suicide Helpline Southern Region: 1800 742 745 (open Mon-Fri 6pm-10pm)

and has some links to literature and sites regarding mental heath

etc...

I don't know how many of these are strictly secular or have a religious agenda as none seem to make a point of it but there seems to be quite number of outlets.

Yeah, it does seem there are plenty of secular faucets of help above. From my own reading it just seemed that most of the time there was a suicide story in the media a priest or a church group was the primary carer. I would hate to think that religion would have a monopoly on this issue. The big one for me was the Samaritans but as biped pointed out that despite the name it is secular.

Yeah, that's fair enough Dev. I do have my qualms about the media in that they tend to blur reality rather than providing clarity.

The National Office of Suicide Prevention quotes record high of 527 suicides in 2009. This seems high.

Similarly I've noticed more homeless people in Dublin City centre and recently have had Irish people knocking on my door looking for money. In the past it was mainly Romanians knocking on the door. Things are looking tough for people and I just hope that they are aware of these outlets.

We should perhaps distinguish between those who commit suicide as a result of temporary depression or desperation and those who choose to end their lives because they may be facing a painful or terminal condition.
Personally, I hope I will have the courage to commit suicide when my time comes.
In addition to organisations that help people who feel suicidal and who can be encouraged to return to happy and fulfilling lives, we need organisations that will help people to end their lives if, after mature consideration, that is their choice.
Suicide figures will increase in this category as the fear of hell diminishes and as people realise that it is an option.
Figures used to be published for 'babies born out of wedlock' and this was frequently used to mean unwanted teenage pregnancy when in fact it also included wanted babies born to co-habiting couples.

The folks who are active in suicide support/prevention, when interviewed, are always quick to correct journalists who use the term "commit suicide". The commit part implies that someone who takes their own life has committed a crime, which isn't the case because suicide is no longer a crime. The purpose of the consciousness raising exercise is for the benefit of family and friends, who don't need the added distress of hearing terminology used that implies that the deceased is a criminal.

I guess it's a PC thing, but it also contrasts wildly with the teachings of the church, who insist that people who take their own lives get a pitch fork up the backside.

I take on board what you say but I can think of no other word to go with suicide, other than commit. 'Take one's own life' or 'kill oneself' are equally harsh. Of course 'commit' doesn't only apply to crime but that is probably its origin in this case.
I hear them say on Raidio na Gaeltachta 'chug sé lámh in a bháis féin' - he took a hand in his own death.

I've been wrecking my head trying to recall the terms suggested as an alternative. Looking online, I can see that as a consciousness raising exercise, it's clearly in its infancy. Most references to suicide use the term "commit".

I did find this though, which explains it better than I can...
http://www.spanidaho.org/stigma.shtml

They suggest terms like "completed suicide" or "died by suicide".

We call it self dead/death.

I've heard 'he ended his own life' or 'he took his own life'.

yeah heard those a lot in Dubkin
-or "he did away with himself" usually followed by " the poor lad/crater/fucker"

I've heard representatives of suicide related organisations on radio saying 'took their own life' is acceptable and also that 'commiting' should be avoided. Here's a section from the Samaritans Ireland website in their media section:



http://www.samaritans.org/pdf/IrishMediaGuidelines2009.pdf

And I don't think it's 'PC'. It's a very serious issue and one which still has a stigma attached, as does mental health issue in general. If we were more open about the whole issue we might be able to prevent some people doing this. It might seem a simple enough idea, but by not using 'commit', it might slowly help to reduce the stigma attached and may make more families who lost loved ones talk more openly about it, which may in turn help other families who are currently going through something similar with a family member and may be of help and may help prevent more deaths.