Experts fear spike in suicides

  • 2009-01-28
  • By Kate McIntosh

DEPRESSED: Experts say that there will likely be a hike in the already high suicide rate as the economy worsens.

RIGA - With suicide rates on the rise in Latvia, health experts fear that the tough economic times ahead will come at a devastating human cost.
Deputy Director of Latvia's Public Health Agency Maris Taube has warned of a potential "social crisis" as the severe financial pressures facing Latvia take their toll.
While Latvia recorded a huge spike in suicide rates during the transition to a market economy in 1993 and 1994, suicide deaths have since been on a steady decline.

However, figures are once more on the rise, with 474 suicide deaths in the 11 month period ending November, 2008, up from 453 the previous year. Figures for December, 2008 are yet to be collected.
Taube fears the statistics will climb even higher as the crisis continues to hit Latvia at full force.
Suicide rates in Latvia are the fourth highest in the European Union, with Lithuania in first place.
Among the hardest hit countries by the worldwide economic slowdown, Latvia is now bracing for spiraling unemployment in the year ahead.

Taube said there is mounting evidence to suggest that social upheaval and severe economic pressures are compounding factors in depressive illness, a major trigger for suicide.
"With this economic crisis we see downsizing, unemployment; many people are having this problem with credit. It's a very stressful time and now with all these problems we start so see suicide rates getting higher," said Taube.

"It is a big concern for us. I hope we will not see it grow to such high rates as in 1993 and 1994. But at the moment we just don't know because we have not hit the bottom yet," he added.
Also of concern, says Taube, is the increase in alcohol consumption, given its close links to depression.
The theory is backed by those working in Latvia's frontline services including police and social welfare agencies.
"The information that we receive from police and other stakeholders is that this [financial crisis] is a big reason why people are dying," said Taube.

Following the financial deprivations of 1993 and 1994, Latvia's economy recovered at a rapid pace.
Taube said declining suicide rates of the late 1990s and 2000s were linked to a relatively stable economic period, as well as improvements in social infrastructure and basic health care.
Fueled by an explosion of cheap credit and booming real estate investment, growth rates in Latvia soared after the turn of the century, earning it a reputation as one of the so-called "Baltic Tigers."
Taube said the fallout from the credit bust has had an enormous financial and psychological impact on Latvian people, with many now struggling to repay unsustainable loans.

Today there remains a strong disparity between suicide rates in Latvia's rural areas and its cosmopolitan capital Riga.
"People living in isolated country regions, particularly men, remain most vulnerable to depression and alcoholism, said Taube.

"The [suicide] numbers in Riga where we tend to lead a more active life and have better opportunity to work are much lower. Here we have more contacts with people and more help. In the country people are alone. There is not so much social activity and people tend to drink more," he added.
The clearly defined gender roles present within Latvian society are also exacerbating the pressures facing Latvian men, said Taube.

"The social role of men is both as worker and family provider. It's ingrained in the culture. Men feel a big responsibility to take care of their family and pay for everything," he said.
Those unable to fulfill this role remain particularly vulnerable to feelings of extreme hopelessness and depression.
"All of the scientific research papers [on depression] point to the impact of economic crisis on high suicide rates among men," he added.

Taube said combating Latvia's increasing suicide rates needs a combined effort including better access to health care and counselling services, as well as public education.
"A lot of people start to feel bad. They keep getting worse and worse, but they don't know why," he said.