Stoics push up south's suicide rate

The stoic nature of Southland men was contributing to more males committing suicide in the region than anywhere else in the country, experts said.

A 2009 Social Development Ministry social report, to be tabled at an Invercargill City Council committee meeting today, says 58 Southland males committed suicide between 2002 and 2006.

This equated to 24.5 Southland males per 100,000 killing themselves – the highest male suicide rate in the country, the report says.

Northland and Hawke's Bay/Gisborne followed hard on the heels of Southland in the male suicide list of shame, while big city centres Auckland and Wellington had the lowest rates of male suicides per head of population, the report says.

Public Health South mental health adviser Karen Goffe said Southland men were among the "last bastion" of males who kept their emotions hidden.

As a result of their stoic nature, they found it difficult to seek medical help when suffering from depression, and depression was a major cause of suicide, she said.

Mental health was often seen as a taboo subject in Southland but it needed to change so people could receive the help they required before it was too late, Ms Goffe said.

Because of Southland's high suicide rate during the past decade, Public Health South was working on a suicide prevention action plan that would be released next month.

Invercargill city councillor Jackie Kruger, who is also the Southland regional manager for mental health provider Pact, said alcohol abuse was also a major contributing factor to suicide.

"We are starting to tackle that issue ... and, hopefully, with all these other strategies coming together, we will start to see a reduction in these statistics," she said.

University of Otago injury prevention research unit senior research fellow Shyamala Nada-Raja said farming communities had high suicide rates because of the financial uncertainties, long working hours, high stress levels and alcohol abuse.

Rural communities such as Southland were also often lacking in sufficient mental health services, she said.

Among other reasons men committed suicide were financial problems, relationship issues, being unable to cope with drug and gambling addictions, social isolation and being gay, experts said.

Acting Invercargill Mayor Neil Boniface said he was saddened by the number of men committing suicide in Southland. The council's community services committee, which he chairs, would consider the issue when it comes up in today's meeting.

"We need to ask some questions about how we can respond to it," Cr Boniface said.

Southland coroner David Crerar declined to comment on the high number of males committing suicide in Southland, saying his role was to rule on individual cases.

He said he had no idea whether the number of males committing suicide in Southland had increased or decreased since 2006.

SUICIDE RATES: Male suicide rate per 100,000 population, 2002-2006  1. Southland, 24.5 (58 suicides)  2. Northland, 24.4 (84)  3. Hawke's Bay-Gisborne, 24.3 (122)  4. Bay of Plenty, 22.9 (149)  5. Manawatu-Wanganui, 21.8 (130) =6. Waikato, 18.3 (182) and Taranaki, 18.3 (51)  8. Canterbury, 16.7 (247)  9. Tasman-Nelson-Marlborough-West Coast, 16.2 (74)  10. Otago, 15.4 (83)  11. Wellington, 14.7 (178)  12. Auckland, 14.2 (509)