Dear Editor,

The Rosbrien Suicide Awareness Group is a group of people mainly made up of families that have lost sons and relations through suicide.
We were dismayed at a report in your Tuesday edition which quotes Dr Patricia Casey, as "cautioning against removing the stigma from suicide".

We hope she is not suggesting that we go back to the days when our sons would have been considered criminals for taking their own lives and when families were isolated and ostracised because of the stigma attached to suicide.

The talk and awareness of the tragedy has not done any harm. The public are now more informed of the issues and are supportive of the families affected which has helped families come to terms with their loss.

Unfortunately the number of suicides has not reduced over the years.

We have been campaigning for the full implementation of the National Task Force on Suicide 1998. The task force recommends, among a lot of other things, “the provision of an extensive network of community based Psychiatric services, bringing a specialised  multi-disciplinary psychiatric service with in easy reach of all citizens and referral agencies” and “ steps be taken to make the health services including the mental health services, more accessible to the public, particularly the young that may perceive them as not being readily available to meet there needs at a time of crises”.

These services are not available in this country. What we still have to-day is a service dominated and controlled by psychiatrists whose diagnoses are based on out dated theories and as a result many people are not being treated because they are not considered to be ill by these psychiatrists.
Our experiences would suggest that it's this category of people particularly young people who are most at risk of suicide.

The massive increase in suicides in the 90s is a modern phenomenon which is brought about by major changes by the way we live. We need specialists available who understand  these modern problems, a specialist multi-disciplinary team that can deal with crisis particularly in the young.

These teams should include  psychiatrists ,psychotherapists, and counselors. Most people in crisis need counseling and psychotherapy and this may be sufficient to get them through their crisis.

We would suggest that psychiatrists should move forward and change with the times rather than suggest that we go backwards.

Billy Doran       Chairman R.S.A.G.
Derek Higgins    Secretary R.S.A.G