The Depression Trap

Last week I read an article about how suicide rates are highest in late spring and early summer. The suggestion was that this was due to people having more energy at this time of year and needing an outlet. However, it doesn’t seem to fit with my own observation that my depressed clients often report feeling better in the good weather. Maybe both factors are present. Some people feel better and others have enough energy to actually take the step of committing suicide after thinking about it over the winter.

I decided to look up the actual statistics to check the facts and found the highest rates for the UK seem to be in January, March and April, with the lowest rate being for December. In fact variations overall are not enormous ranging from about 9 a day to 11 a day (allowing for reading off an online graph that only shows even numbers). So I’d probably interpret this graph rather differently. Overall we seem to see generally higher rates in the first half of the year and lower in the second half of the year, with the exception of February. So maybe the lower rates are the result of the summer weather kicking in and cheering us up and then the excitement of looking forward to Christmas seeing us through Autumn and the start of winter. (Graph courtesy of Chew, KSY and McCleary, R, 1995, “The Spring Peak in Suicide: A Cross- National Analysis”, Social Science Medicine, Vol 40 No 2, pp223-30).

Is such speculation meaningful or helpful? You can read pretty much anything you like into statistics like these. Many of my clients talk about committing suicide but none have actually done so. What is it that makes the difference between contemplating taking your own life and actually doing so? Could factors like the weather, birthdays, Christmas be the final straw for some people? Can such a personal decision be analysed in this general way.

Whilst we may not understand the seasonal variations the link between depression and suicide is pretty well established. Many people suffering from depression have suicidal thoughts, although only a minority actually attempt to kill themselves. If you find yourself thinking about suicide it’s important to get help. Here are some simple steps.

1. Find someone supportive to talk to; it could be a counsellor, the Samaritans, a friend or relative, your doctor, or a religious advisor. Just talking to someone about how you feel can make a big difference.
2. If you don’t know who to talk to then find more information on how to get help on these websites:

http://www.metanoia.org/suicide/

http://www.samaritans.org/

http://www.befrienders.org/

Remember that however bad you feel there are people out there who care and who want to help you.