Changes in male suicidality in a changing Europe

Abstract

In Europes countries of heavy societal transition, especially male patterns of suicide reflect seismographically the stress load in a country, induced by societal and individual transition.

Suicidality is hereby embedded in stress related morbidity and mortality, mediated by risk taking behaviour and lifestyles, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality as well as addictive behaviour and violence.

Male suicide rates are highest in societies where a stressful transition even afflict gender roles that untill recently had been traditional. They seem even connected to males shortcomings in their ability to cope with changes regarding their societal status, dignity, self estimation social significance and sense of existential cohesion.

Most male suicides are commited without help seeking and contact with medical or other support systems.

Thus, problems are aggravated by males traditional inability to seek help and be compliant - combined with the incapacity of mental health support structures to provide services that not only are accessible but also acceptable for men.

In addition to this, there are problems of diagnosing males typical “atypical” symptoms of depression and suicidality by traditional depression assessment criteria, leading to both underdiagnosis of male depressive states as well as a consequent male oversuicidality.