Causes and Psychology of Suicide in Ireland

Counseling and psychotherapy
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Introduction
Cases of suicide have really increased in recent years. Statistics have revealed that about
one million people die from suicide every year. It is as well important to note that in the last 45
years, suicide rates have increased by 61%. This increase in suicide rates has made suicide
become among one of the three leading causes of death among people between the ages of 15-44
years in Ireland (O'neill, Corry, McFeeters, Murphy, Bunting, 2015 p.65). There are various
causes that would make a person consider suicide. Most of the suicide cases, however, result
from a bunch of complex social-cultural factors. Such cases are usually more likely to occur
during periods of an extreme family as well as individual crisis. Some of these comprise of
aspects such as cases of unemployment, loss of loved ones, complications in sexual orientations,
honor, and problems in developing one's identity among others. Moreover, mental health
disorders have also been associated with at least 60% of suicide cases.
This write-up will provide an analysis of suicide as a social phenomenon. This will
include a reflective critique of Professors Anthony's Clare wonderful text; Masculinity in crisis.
The major emphasis of this write-up will, however, be on the psychology of suicide in Ireland.
Quite a number of aspects will be addressed in this. Some of the issues that will be addressed
comprise of; the historical context of suicide in various countries, the use of drugs and alcohol as
a cause of suicide, depression and its relation to suicide, male and female gender roles in suicide.
In addition to this, this paper will also include Edwin Shweidman's contribution to our
understanding of suicide.
Chapter 1
Suicide Ireland: Social cultural and psychological causes of suicide.
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In general, the people in Ireland tries to commit suicide for various reasons. Some of the
social-cultural and psychological causes of suicide include;
Depression
Basically, the most common reason why people commit suicide is the increased aspect of
depression in society. Some authors have argued that pervasive sense of suffering induces
depression which will cause one to escape the hopeless life by committing suicide. In Ireland,
most of the people have been facing a lot of human suffering and they are unable to bear to the
states of depression most of the times it warps the thinking of an individual thus subjecting
himself to the issue of suicide. Most of the people in Ireland don't care about their lives. This is
evident on how Edwin argued in his book that is "There's no spirit or soul. I will be dead. Get
that through your thick head. I'll be dead. And I live, in quotation marks, in my children, in my
DNA, in my books, in my reputation. It's as simple as that."(p.31). According to Shneidman,
suicidal behaviors are as result of a particular symptom of mental illness that needs to be initially
medicated. Edwin Shneidman argued that suicide is not brought about by the increased drive
towards demise but rather as a result of a needed escape from unbearable pain and stress. He
used his knowledge to help individuals understand suicide especially those who had lost their
loved ones. Before his death, he provides various characteristics that are associated with suicidal
death that serve a significant purpose in helping people understand the issues behind d suicidal
rates among people. He indicated that the common aim of having to commit suicide is to be able
to seek a particular solution to a certain problematic issue.
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Psychache
Different authors have argued that psychic pain is the major social-cultural cause of death
in most of the societies in Ireland. People are unable to bear the pain they experience in their
own life. Anthony (2010) articulates on the issue of suicide by saying that "There are many
pointless deaths, but there can never be a needless suicide." (p.66). Through suicide, people are
able to escape the Psychic pain when they are affected by a certain condition in their lives. In
addition, there are those key concepts which are associated with the issue of psychic pain. Some
of the issues related to psychic pain include; the dominance of an issue in the human body, the
health condition of an individual, the issue of love which is characterized by broken love and
also loss of respect. All these analogies tend to induce the issue of psychic pain within society.
The historical content of suicide in various cultures
Williams (2014) outlines different concepts which articulate the history content of suicide
in different cultures. The issue of suicide was clearly described by the Roman and Greek a long
time ago. The two groups had a relaxed attitude towards the issue of suicide whereby they
identified different reasons why the society experiences the issue of suicide at a higher degree.
Both Romans and Greeks indicated that suicide was allowed in the society and no one could
deter anybody from committing suicide. After a short while churches joined and they argued
differently on the issue of suicide (Williams, 2014, p.23). The church indicated that suicide was
evil and no one was supposed to kill himself. According to Williams (2014), the church
continued with the stand in the society until when the Ireland government had officially drafted
that suicide in society was unlawful incidence within the society and it should be avoided in all
ways (p.76). With this change of attitude, society realized the negativities associated with
suicide. By 1850s Ireland was in the position to avoid all means that may induce the concept of
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