Call for Help
GLBTQIAs and Suicide
By Mikee dela Cruz
PUBLISHED: MAY 2009

LOCALIZING SUICIDE

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, who.int), as of May 2003, the suicide rate among males is only 2.5% and only 1.7% among females in the Philippines – arguably a small portion of the estimated 450 million (growth rate of 60% in the past 45 years) people affected by mental, neurological or behavioral problems that lead to suicide attempts.

Writing for the Gallup World Poll (gallup.com), Brett Pelham and Zsolt Nyiri noted in In More Religious Countries, Lower Suicide Rates that from 2005 to 2006, “comparing the Gallup Religiosity Index (GRI) scores of different countries with suicide statistics published in 2007 by the WHO reveals a clear pattern: Countries that are more religious tend to have lower suicide rates. For example, whereas the Philippines has one of the world's highest religiosity scores (79), Japan has one of the world's lowest scores (29), suicide rates in the Philippines are almost 12 times lower than rates in Japan.”

Pelham and Nyiri add: “A final hypothesis is that greater social capital (collective commitment to social well-being) in more religious countries could be responsible for the lower suicide rates observed in these countries.”

This is not to say that religiosity will solve the problem, as the authors themselves elaborate that “countries that are more religious might tend to underreport suicides – because of subpar medical documentation, or the added social stigma suicide carries in countries that are more religious.”  There is also a question on the workability of the greater social capital explanation, since if this is associated with less suicide, “one would probably expect to see lower homicide rates in more religious countries.  In these data, however, homicide rates were actually somewhat higher in countries that are more religious.”

Except for the religious take on the issue, though, “nobody really talks about this, like not discussing it will make it go away,” Edwin E. says, noting how “even the Philippine Mental Health Association (pmha.org.ph) last updated their site still in 2004 (checked on 31 March, 2009 – Ed.)” and there remains “no mental health law in the Philippines,” with “even the Department of Health’s National Center for Mental Health not having a data on mental cases in the country (doh.gov.ph/ncmh checked on 31 March, 2008).”

A refocusing is, therefore, “more than needed,” Edwin E. says.  “What are we waiting for – the situation to worsen before taking steps?”

BIG INTERVENTION

In an interview for outproud.org (by W.J. Blumenfeld and L. Lindop for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth Suicide), Lee Ann Hoff, suicidologist and author of People in Crisis, says that “what professionals in this field of suicide prevention have said and studied and practiced for dozens of years is, you have to be direct: you have to talk about it, understand what it is about.”

This is because the subject remains a taboo, and “uncloseting” it is the only way to understand it.

Specifically discussing sexual identification’s relationship with suicide, Hoff says the beginnings of suicidal ideas may be “situational (experiences same-sex attractions, hears homophobic comments, is verbally harassed, physically attacked, school work declines, too depressed to study); social-cultural (heterosexist values are dominant, individual seen as ‘deviant,’ rejected by community, lacks resources); or transitional (as an adolescent, one realizes one is not heterosexual, and one realizes one is lesbian, gay, or bisexual).”  From these, the typical reactions include “feeling depressed (down); shocked, has low self-esteem, misplaced self-hatred, frustrated and confused about what to do, stressed out by keeping one's "secret," frightened by isolation and thoughts of death.”

Outproud.org enumerates the risk factors in GLBTQIA youth suicides to include “discrimination/oppression of gays and lesbians by society, with portrayals or representations of homosexuals in the society as self destructive or hurtful to others; internalization of society's notions of LGBTs as sick, self destructive, sinful, spreaders of disease, molesters of children, and pathetic; denial of same-sex feelings or orientation. Despair in recognition of same-sex orientation; perceived or actual rejection, abuse, harassment of child due to LGBT orientation, with the child's feelings of failure to meet parental/societal expectations; child's LGBT orientation seen as incompatible with family's religious beliefs in which youths feel sinful or condemned; harassed and/or abused by peers (and sometimes faculty and staff), with the lack of supportive peers and adults, role models, and accurate information about LGBT life in the classroom; social isolation; substance abuse; and inability or unwillingness of available professionals to discuss issues related to same-sex feelings, and/or forced treatment to change LGBT orientation.”

But even from the beginning, there are actually help available.

“Find supportive counselor and peer, family and friends get help and support (for situational beginnings); join GLBTQIA groups for support and social outlet (for socio-cultural beginnings); or (take similar steps to) survive the coming out process (for transitional cases),” Hoff says, stressing that the goal is always to survive the coming out transition, and thus “feel comfortable with the GLBTQIA identity.”

FACTS FROM FICTION

For Hoff, though, individual responses to suicide – or event attempts at it – remain the most important factor, thus segregating facts from the myths is of utmost importance in understanding, thus properly responding, to suicidal people.
It is, for example, and for one, a fallacy to assume that “people who commit suicide are mentally ill (because) people who commit suicide are usually very depressed or emotionally upset, but this is not the same as being ‘crazy’ or mentally ill,” Hoff says.

Secondly, it is also a myth that “good circumstances – having a comfortable home, a good job, or being a good student – prevent suicide.  (Fact is) suicide cuts across class, race, age, and sexual orientation differences, though its frequency varies among different groups in society.  For example, suicide and suicide attempts among gay males and lesbians is considerably higher than among heterosexual youth (due to societal homophobia and heterosexism).”

	1 | 2 | 3