T
here are myriad
stories. People who
were laughing an
hour before they
took their own lives. People
who were simply ‘not quite
themselves’. People who had
struggled with long-term
depression. People who had a
history of suicide in the
family. Successful people who
seemed to have everything to
live for.
They all decided to kill
themselves. Official records
say that in the UK in 2016,
4,508 men and 1,457 women
died as a result of suicide, but
some experts believe the true
numbers may be as high as
double that. Men appear
particularly vulnerable: in
fact, suicide is the leading
cause of death in men under
50 in the UK, claiming more
lives than car accidents, heart
disease or cancer. If it were a
new disease, suicide would
surely prompt a national
emergency.
The reasons so many men
take their lives are mysterious
and infinitely diverse – a
complex web of social,
psychological, biological and
cultural pressures. But new
scientific approaches are
presenting unexpected
avenues for disentangling the
threads. Virtual reality
experiments and artificial
intelligence are revealing
those most at risk and could
even predict who is most
likely to try and take their
life. Meanwhile, theories of
male ‘social perfectionism’
are throwing light on why
men feel they have failed.
Together, they offer the
prospect of better prevention.A Risk factors
According to Prof Rory
O’Connor, who runs the
Suicidal Behaviour Research
Lab at the University of
Glasgow, changes in society
are making men
especially prone to the