Female suicide attempts being ignored

A cheery post for you this Monday morning! An article in the Camden New Journal which struck me as I read it the same day I wrote about the advantages of misery blogging.

Cries for help from women in the borough are being routinely overlooked according to a report that has come out (Focus on Female Suicides in Camden). "The majority of successful suicide cases were already known by authorities as having tried to take their own life before at least once," says the CNJ (Fears suicide attempts by women are being ignored, Page 21.)

The report used the medical notes of 22 women who took their own lives in the borough between 2006 and 2009. Suicide was ruled out of Jennyfer Spencer's case which makes me think the number of deaths is much higher.

68 per cent of these women had attempted suicide more than once. "Many were enduring domestic abuse, bereavement and financial problems." Six of the women "had visited their GP in the fortnight before their death."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH. From my own experience I know I told my a shrink assessor I had suicidal thoughts, but the shrinks they referred me to said I was 'out of their criteria'. Wouldn't it be funny if I'd just killed myself ey? Wouldn't it just!

The journalist who wrote this also wrote about the privatisation of the NHS so I sent a letter, just with a question from my party's manifesto, but I thanked him also for exposing this. Maybe my question should be "will privatising the NHS see people not waiting to die but taking their own lives instead?"

Some stats that came out of the report:
Women are more likely to identify themselves than men. An article in the Metro today that only 1 in 50 guys will go to their GP with depression
The most common method for women was overdose, and in most cases not prescription drugs but paracetamol, aspirin, things people have in their cupboards
Men "predominantly chose 'violent means'" - hanging, shooting, or like Tony at Papier Mache Towers, jumping from a high building.
Camden has the highest rate of suicides in the capital.
In this borough women over 45 are the higher risk group and men under 25.

With these cuts, I'm concerned that the coalition government is going to have a lot of blood on its hands.

I, of course, urge people not to give up on life. Don't give up. I know life is hard but hang on.