October 09, 2015
Suicide approach needing rethink
There’s a call for health professionals to see Maori suicide as not being merely a part of the national suicide problem.
The latest data released by the chief coroner for Mental Health Awareness Week shows that of the 564 people who took their lives in the year to June, 130 were Maori, a rate of 21.7 per 100,000.
That’s almost double the overall rate of 12.2.
In a blog post on the New Zealand Doctor site, University of Auckland School of Nursing lecturer Barbara Docherty discussed the experiences of a Maori former nurse who battled with depression and thoughts of suicide.
She says Maori men and women are often unable to talk openly about their anxiety or depression, and mainstream health professionals are too keen to label and diagnose and treat rather than working out what is appropriate for Maori.
Ms Docherty says history rather than race, colour or culture may be what separates Maori from others, and the effects show up in domestic violence, the personal violence of suicide, sexual assault within families, drug-taking, and alcohol abuse.
Suicide can be an act of imagination rather than a sign of mental illness, and the solution may be in tackling destructive group behaviours.
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