Viewing Volume 8 Issue 3 Autumn 2005
‘SUICIDE AMONG YOUTH’
- Which Mental Health disorders are responsible.
Diagnosis and treatment should address all disorders and not just focus on depression.
Washington - Mental health professionals need to be watchful of mental health problems beyond depression in order to prevent youth suicide, according to new research from the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO researchers examine which mental disorders or combinations of disorders may be most responsible for youth suicide in a new study being released in the October issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Researchers from the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland and from the Christchurch School of Medicine in New Zealand reviewed the English language research from 1982 to 2001 to re-examine the occurrence and distribution of mental disorders in 894 cases of completed suicides among young people worldwide. The majority of the cases (89 percent) had at least one diagnosis of a mental disorder. Mood disorders were the most frequently diagnosed (42 percent) followed by substance-related disorders (40 percent) and then disruptive disorders (20 percent).
Mood disorders include major and minor depressive disorder, dysthymia, mania, hypomania, bipolar disorder and non-specific mood disorders. Substance-related disorders include drug abuse and alcohol dependency/abuse. Disruptive disorders include conduct disorder, attention deficit disorder, oppositional disorder and identity disorder.
The cases included subjects who were under 20 years of age - 72 percent. Twelve percent were between the ages of 20 - 29 and 15.5 percent were 15-29 years old. Studies that met the criteria for this review originated mostly from Europe and North America. Hence, caution is necessary in application of findings from that region to program development in Asian, African, South American or developing countries.
From the limited information available, lead author Alexandra Fleischmann, Ph.D., and co-authors suggest that comprehensive suicide prevention strategies for young people target mental disorders as a whole rather than just look for depression. Even though mood disorders were tied to suicide the most, these disorders were lower than expected, according to the study.
The authors add that beyond diagnosable mental disorders, other components, such as a person's predisposition, social and environmental conditions, psychosocial risk factors, and culture should be considered to prevent suicide among youth from escalating.
By:Article:
Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office or at: http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/ort754676.pdf
CONFERENCE 2005
The conference was held at the Hough End Centre on Thursday 9th September, which was a new location for us, having sought to find a venue to replace our long standing connection with the GMB in Whalley Range. The speakers included Dr. Marilyn Relf, Gordon Riches, John Peters, Jayne Handford, Prof. Stephen Wright and Dr. David Trickey.
Of all the evaluations and many, many e-mails received, 98% voted the conference as the best we have held so far. We thought we should share some of these with you:
“Thank you to everyone who contributed to the 'Family Grief' conference last week. To use the word 'enjoyed' when reflecting on how I felt after attending last Thursday, sounds inappropriate when referring to the subject matter, maybe informed, refreshed and more complete, but yes, I did enjoy being part of the day again.”
“I had to drop a quick line to say how much I'd enjoyed the conference yesterday. What a variety of brilliant speakers, all of whom were fascinating and often inspirational. Very well organised as well, of course.”
“ Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed yesterdays conference, all the speakers were excellent and I came away with a little something from each of them, excellent day. Thanks to all involved in the organisation.”
“……..., we’d like to thank you for organising another superb day. As we were exhausted by 4pm just from all the concentrating and the food for thought with which we’d been provided, you must been quite shattered as a result of all the organising and rushing around to ensure the day went smoothly as it did. I can only say that we’re already looking forward to next year—the venue was superb (as was Sedgley Park Police Training Centre—2004), the speakers excellent, a wonderfully welcoming atmosphere, great food—what more can anyone ask for?”
Next years conference entitled ‘MIND MATTERS’, is already well into the planning stages, therefore please pencil in to your diaries Thursday 14th September 2006, and watch out further information updates in the New Year.
Ted Bowman—’Shattered Dreams, Resilience and Hope’
Dr. Sue Read—’Bereavement and People with Intellectual Disability’
Dr. Marion Gibson—’Responding to Traumatic Incidents - : Order from Chaos’.
Dorothy Eddi Piper—’The Cycle of Self Harm’
Gill Raynor—’Depression and Grief’
Dr. David Trickey—’Psychological impact of Death and Dying’
Following on from the evaluations received this year, the venue will again be at The Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Prices we hope, remain the same as last year.
By:AET
DIARY DATES
‘Members Meetings’
Thursday 9th February 2006
Thursday 11th May 2006 (AGM)
6.30 pm for 7 pm
At the Droylsden Office.
By:SFB
Northwest Child Bereavement Network.
‘Members Meetings’
Thursday 9th February 2006
Thursday 11th May 2006
1-00pm for 1-30pm (bring lunch—drinks provided)
At the Droylsden Office.
By:SFB
HELP NEEDED
Rosemary Hartley is carrying out a piece of bereavement research.
She would like to contact clients who have experienced a bereavement by suicide. This would be very helpful for her research.
Tel: 0161-747-0461
or
e-mail
rosemary@innerdepths.co.uk
By:RH
MEMO
Membership / Renewals
Subscriptions along with the conference and training days are the key to our core funds.
Please remember that your annual membership is due on the 1st of January 2006.
By:AET