HOLLYWOOD actor Robin Williams, DJ Avicii, rock star Kurt Cobain, Love Islander Mike Thalassitis and football manager Gary Speed – lives all cut short by suicide. Theirs are instantly recognisable names, but every week in the UK 115 people take their own lives. Of those, 86 are male, making the suicide rate for men three times higher than for women.
These figures are alarming – the highest in England and Wales since 1994. While it is no secret that men can be more closed, struggle to show “weakness” and often fear being a burden, leading men’s health charity Movember tells Sun Health it is everyone’s responsibility to help change that narrative. Today is World Suicide Prevention Day , and Dr Zac Seidler, global director of men’s health research at Movember, is urging people to start using the word “suicide”.
Read More on Health The clinical psychologist and senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne says the biggest falsehood is that talking about suicide puts ideas in men’s heads. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he says. “It’s a strange thought that simply checking in on someone could make them suddenly do something so serious if they hadn’t thought about it before.
“Saying the word suicide to someone you’re worried about could help them in a really big way. Suicide among men is at its highest for 30 years, and that’s partly down to social issues. Most read in Health “But as a society we’ve encouraged men to tal.