UK: Britain's male suicide rate is a national tragedy

Article here. Excerpt:

'In 1981, 2,466 women in the UK took their own lives. Three decades later, thanks to improvements in psychiatric and emergency care medicine, to a range of suicide prevention barriers and policies and, perhaps, to gradual social, political and personal empowerment, the number in 2012 had almost halved to 1,391.

In 1981, 4,129 men in the UK took their own lives. Three decades later, despite improvements in psychiatric and emergency care medicine, a range of suicide prevention barriers and policies and, arguably, some degree of social, political and personal empowerment, the number in 2012 had risen to 4,590.

The latest suicide statistics from the ONS show the greatest gender gulf since records began. The suicide rate for men is now three and a half times that of women. Breaking down the statistics, the most worrying trend is a rise in the rate among men aged 40-44. It is striking too that whereas 30 years ago the risks for men were greatest in London and the south-east and lowest in the north, the picture has now entirely reversed. This tallies with research by Samaritans, who have found that men at the bottom of the socioeconomic pile are at greatest risk. Clare Wyllie, its head of policy and research, was quoted as saying: "They will grow up expecting by the time they reach mid-life they'll have a wife who will look after them and a job for life in a male industry. In reality they may find that they reach middle age in a very different position. Society has this masculine ideal that people are expecting to live up to. Lots of that has to do with being a breadwinner. When men don't live up to that it can be quite devastating for them."'