Meeting of the Parliament 21 January 2014
I pay tribute to the organisations out there that are doing a huge amount of work in tackling mental health stigma and in trying to prevent suicide—organisations such as the Scottish Association for Mental Health, the choose life programme co-ordinators and volunteers across the country and the Samaritans, who have been mentioned quite a lot in the debate. Many of us recently had the privilege of meeting Samaritans from throughout Scotland who are doing immense work, in my community in Aberdeen and elsewhere.
In its briefing for the debate, SAMH asks a number of questions that I have asked myself in a previous guise as a local councillor. It asks the Scottish Government how it will ensure that local authorities and community planning partnerships are held to account for the suicide prevention work that they are obliged to carry out under single outcome agreements. SAMH calls for more transparency from local authorities and others in pointing out what they are doing. I think that that is required. I am convinced that a lot of good work is going on, but it is a subject that we do not talk enough about. We talk about relatives and friends who die of natural causes, but folk often do not talk about those folk that they have known who have taken their own lives. We must get much better at doing that.
We also have an obligation to challenge behaviour. Far too often in society—in the media, in particular—we see a stigmatisation of mental ill health. We have seen headlines galore, over many years, using language that should not be used to describe folk with mental health problems. All of us here and beyond should challenge such behaviour. We now have the new media—the social media—which Dr Milne talked about, and we see a huge amount of bullying and horrid language there.
Before the debate, I looked at some recent cases of suicide. Dr Milne mentioned the young man from Dunfermline who, after being blackmailed after using the internet, could see no way out other than to take his own life. There are countless stories out there, but one that I was really struck by had the headline, “Ballet girl was ‘hooked on Tumblr where users encouraged her to harm herself’”. That is beyond my ken—why would anyone do that? However, it is obvious that such behaviour goes on. That girl took her own life. We should look at ensuring that social media sites are not used to bully folk and to leave them with what they think is very little option, and I think that we can do that.
A BBC Scotland report from 22 June 2012 had the headline, “Social media ‘could cut suicide’”. It said that, in a study by the University of Stirling in 2009,
“one in five school children said the internet, including social networking sites, influenced their decision to self-harm.”
It went on to say:
“Now the researchers say the possible dangers posed by new media could be counteracted if the sites provided support for vulnerable young people.”
In that report, Professor Rory O’Connor of the University of Stirling’s suicidal behaviour research laboratory is quoted as saying that
“The reasons for adolescent suicide and self-harm are multiple and complex. My colleagues and I see that the challenge is ensuring that new media provide support for vulnerable young people, rather than helping or encouraging self-destructive behaviours.”
I am pleased that organisations such as SAMH and the Samaritans now have a presence on Twitter, Facebook and other new media sites, because I think that that can be immensely beneficial. Interaction with such organisations on new media sites is often helpful for people who may have some dark thoughts.
The difference between the suicide rate among the poor and that among the more affluent members of society has been mentioned. Mr Coffey said that the suicide rate in the most deprived areas was more than three times higher than the rate in more affluent areas. One of my main concerns is welfare reform and the austerity measures that are being implemented under the direction of the Westminster Government. As many other members probably do, I regularly have folk come to me who feel despair, isolation and a lack of self-worth, because of the changes that have been thrust on them. We need to take cognisance of the impact of the welfare reforms on people’s mental wellbeing, and we must ensure that we do the right thing in that regard by doing all that we can to help folk who have been affected in that way. In my opinion, the best way of dealing with that would be to halt the austerity measures and to stop the worst impacts of welfare reform, and I hope that that will be possible in the very near future.
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