Men Are More Likely to Commit Suicide

Men in the United States commit suicide four times as frequently as women do, Douglas G. Jacobs, assistant professor of psychiatry, told a gathering of about 400 mental health professionals at a symposium last week sponsored by the Medical School.

Named "The Aftermath of Suicide: Impact and Response," the symposium, which was held in the Lafayette Hotel in Boston, focused on the psychological chain of events following a suicide.

The purpose of the symposium was "to look at the effects of the aftermath of suicide, and to help families, schools, therapists, and hospitals to determine effective responses to the impacts," said Jacobs, who chaired the program.

Although psychiatrists are not sure why males are more likely to commit suicide, Jacobs said in a telephone interview, yesterday, "Men don't go for help. They tend to use more violent methods, and they tend to generally get involved with more violent behavior than women."

"Eighty percent of people who go into [psychiatric] treatment are women," he added. "It's more socially acceptable for women to get help. Men tend to wait."

Last week Jacobs, who is also director of the Suicide Education Institution of Boston, presented other statistics which showed that the suicide rate among people aged 15 to 24 has tripled over the last 30 years, while rates for the general population have remained the same.

Jacobs said that younger adults "feel things very intensely. They should realize that their emotions can change. Flunking that test doesn't mean their life is over."

People should take any mention of death or suicide seriously, Jacobs said yesterday. "If you come across someone who's thinking and talking about it, you should react," he said.

"It's important to remember that more troubled people are helped than commit suicide. With all the emphasis on suicide, it's still a rare event statistically," Jacobs said.

The suicide symposium consisted of seven speakers, who ranged from Medical School faculty members to clinicians from Cambridge Hospital, and professor of psychiatry from Columbia University.

The symposium also included videotape of an interview with parents whose 14-year-old daughter committed suicide 13 years ago.

"In the interview, they looked at the feelings of the family, for example, did they feel guilty? They also talked about how they've grown as a family," said Denise F. Brouillette, administrative director of the symposium.

"The videotape helped to show how one family has made a constructive integration of this traumatic experience," said John E. Mack, maker of the videotape and a professor of psychiatry at the Medical School, in a telephone interview yesterday.

"For families that have to deal with the suicide of a child, there's often a great deal of anguish and fragmentation of the family, and this is compounded by the fact that there tends to be a taboo in talking about it. Family members are often ashamed and reluctant to talk with members of the community," Mack said.