iasp newsletters 2009

In official relations with

the World Health Organization

President:

Vice President:

Vice President:

Prof. Brian Mishara

Prof. Heidi Hjelmeland

Prof. Kees van Heeringen

Treasurer:

General Secretary:

National Rep:

Organisational Rep:

Prof. Thomas Bronisch

Assoc. Prof. Annette Beautrais

Dr Murad Khan

Dr Jerry Reed

newsbu l l e t i nI n t e r n a t i o n a l A s s o c i a t i o n f o r S u i c i d e P r e v e n t i o n

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 9

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Brian L. Mishara, Ph.D [email protected]

Please forward, distribute or disseminate thisnewsletter to others to whom it would be of interest

Comments and suggestionsfrom members solicited

2009 promises to be an important year in the development of the International Association for SuicidePrevention. We will be holding our 25th World Congress in Montevideo, Uruguay on the 27-31October (and it is time that you begin to make plans and submit proposals for this exciting meeting). We are also looking forward to many new developments. However, we are at a point where we cangreatly benefit from input from IASP members before we proceed.

First, in the coming weeks, members will be sent an important document, a proposed “StrategicOverview 2009-2013” of IASP goals and priorities. This document was developed following a reviewof IASP's previous 5 year strategic operational plan and will be sent to all members in the comingweeks for comments and suggestions. Based upon the priorities and strategic outcomes that areoutlined in this document, the IASP Board is in the process of developing a strategic work plan toachieve these outcomes. However, before finalizing any plans, input from all IASP members is beingsolicited concerning our visions for activities in the coming years. I will be sending a letter with thestrategic overview document to all IASP individual and organizational members for comments beforethe end of January.

Second, if you have visited the IASP web site since last May (www.iasp.info), you will have noticedthat there is a change in format and the material on the site is expanding each month. After manyyears of having the IASP site graciously hosted in Norway by Lars Mehlum at the University of Oslo,IASP is now operating its own site, with the help of a brilliant site developer, Kenneth Hemmerick.We are looking at expanding the restricted “members only” section and we are seeking ways to high-light IASP activities and ensure that IASP is identified easily by various search engines. At this timeI would like to invite all IASP members to visit the site and make suggestions about how to improvethe site and increase its usefulness for IASP members, as well as the general public. As you can seefrom the graph on usage of the site, there was a major peak of activity in September around WorldSuicide Prevention Day. We are looking at ways to capitalize upon the increased visits around thisannual event in order to recruit new IASP members and incite visitors to return to the site throughoutthe year.

One of the challenges in developing the web site is the fact that the content of the site is entirelydeveloped on a voluntary basis by IASP members. At the present time, Annette Beautrais([email protected]), the IASP General Secretary, is responsible for screening content tobe put on the site. We would like to have the IASP site become an important resource for suicideprevention around the world. We would also like to have as much of the site as possible availablein several other languages. Again, we have relied thus far on volunteers to translate the site in otherlanguages. Your suggestions concerning the web site would be greatly appreciated.

Wishing you good health, joy and great accomplishments in the New Year.

New IASP Task Force: BestPractice Standards in SuicidePrevention for HelplinesHelplines worldwide are front line services re-ceiving many thousand of phone calls annuallyfrom people at risk of suicide. While individualcountries or services may have developed suicideprevention or intervention standards for their ser-vices there is no general agreement internationallyas to what constitutes best practice in response toa suicidal caller. Over recent years researchershave taken an increased interest in the work ofHelplines and a body of research is available toinform practice. Given our increasingly globalworld and the increased body of knowledge about suicide preventionit is timely for a new ISAP Task Force to be created to develop evidencebased best practice standards for helplines providers.

For this reason IASP has convened a new Task Force on Best PracticeStandards for Helplines and Crisis Lines.

The Task Force will be chaired by Dawn O'Neil, CEO of LifelineAustralia, and will include delegates from the newly formed EmotionalServices Alliance which currently consists of Lifeline International,Samaritans UK, Befrienders Worldwide and IFOTES. We are callingfor expressions of interest from the IASP membership to develop theBest Practice Standard for Helplines. The goals of the Task Force willbe to:• To develop systematic reviews of research about suicide prevention

via a helpline service

• To identify gaps in knowledge, to develop a research agenda to address these gaps and to encourage relevant research

• To identify, collect and collate existing guidelines and policies forsuicide prevention and intervention for Helplines which have beendeveloped in various countries and examine and report on their content, development and implementation.

• To draw on the available scientific evidence and knowledge and experience of practitioners working in Crisis / Help lines to developevidence based standards and practice guidelines to support serviceproviders.

• To work collaboratively with helpline and crisis line providers to develop and promote evidence based practice

• To improve linkages between helpline and crisis line service providers and researches with an interest in this area.

• To assemble a body of knowledge which can provide authoritativecomment on issues relate to suicide reduction and prevention

People who are interested in joining the Task Force can [email protected] - You need to be a IASP member to bea member of the Task Force. If you are not yet a IASP member youare invited to join using the online submission form at www.iasp.info.

Notification on meeting times and dates will be advised in furtherbulletins.

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Dawn O'NeilChair of the IASPTaskforce


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5th AESCHI CONFERENCE 4.–7. MARCH 2009

Hotel Aeschi Park, Aeschi, Switzerland

Special theme: to hospitalize or not to hospitalize?

www.aeschiconference.unibe.ch

The Aeschi Working GroupThe therapeutic approach to the suicidal patient:

New perspectives for health professionals

XXV IASP WORLD CONGRESSMONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY

27–31 OCTOBER 2009

The Second Announcement is now available:

www.iasp.info

LOTTERYA lottery will be

held with the prizeFOUR FREE NIGHTSin a double roomat the Radisson Hotelduring the congress.The winner will bedrawn from the first50 people to completeand register with pay-ment for the congress.

XXV IASP WORLD CONGRESS

Please forward, distribute or disseminatethis newsletter to others to whom it wouldbe of interest

42nd AAS Annual Conference: A Global Agenda onthe Science of Prevention, Treatment, & RecoveryApril 15 - 18, 2009 Westin St. Francis Hotel San Francisco, CA

SAVE THE DATE! JOIN US IN SAN FRANCISCO FOR:

• Skill-enhancing workshops • Cutting-edge researchpresentations • Best practices in prevention programs• Four full days of content • Over 150 presenters• Invaluable networking opportunitiesFor Additional Information: www.suicidology.org

• 202-237-2280 • [email protected]

The Stengel ResearchAward has been provided since 1977 andis named in honour of the late Professor ErwinStengel, one of the founders of the IASP. Thisaward is for outstanding active research with atleast 10 years of scientific activity in the field, asevidenced by number and quality of publicationsin internationally acknowledged journals.

THE CRITERIA FOR SELECTION ARE:• Outstanding and active research with at least 10years of scientific activity in the field, as evidencedby the number and quality of publications in inter-nationally acknowledged journals; •National leader-ship in the area;• Suicidology is the main (focal)area of interest/ work; •Reasonable expectation(outline to be submitted) of further research activityin the field.THE STENGEL RESEARCH AWARD CHAIRPERSON:Prof. Keith Hawton, University of Oxford,Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital,Oxford OX3 7JX, United Kingdom Phone: +44[1865] 226 258 / Fax: +44 [1865] 226 265E-mail: [email protected]

The Ringel Service Awardwas instituted in 1995 and honours the lateProfessor Erwin Ringel, the founding Presidentof the Association. This award is for distinguishedservice in the field of suicidology, and nominationscan be made by National Representatives of IASP.

THE CRITERIA FOR SELECTION ARE:•Actively involved in the practice of suicide pre-vention and crisis intervention and its dissemi-nation; •Acknowledged as a national initiator orleader in the field; •Suicide prevention and/orcrisis intervention should be the main portion ofhis/her work.RINGEL SERVICE AWARD CHAIRPERSON:Dr Morton Silverman, 4858 South DorchesterAvenue, Chicago Il 60615-2012, USAPhone: +1 773 550 8179 / Fax: + 1 773 624 3995E- mail: [email protected]

The Farberow Award wasintroduced in 1997 in recognition of ProfessorNorman Farberow, a founding member anddriving force behind the IASP. This award is for aperson who has contributed significantly in thefield of work with survivors of suicide, and nomi-nations can be made by any member of IASP.THE CRITERIA FOR SELECTION ARE:•Has been actively involved in the establishmentand operation of bereaved by suicide/survivorprograms; •Has demonstrated national leadershipin the area;•Has contributed to the research andevaluation of such programs; • Will continue tobe involved in this important area of work.FARBEROW AWARD CHAIRPERSON:Karl Andriessen, Vaartdijk 60, 2800 Mechelen,Belgium. Phone: +32 [9] 233 50 99 /Fax: +32 [9] 233 35 89Email:[email protected]

De Leo Fund Award honours thememory of Nicola and Vittorio, the beloved childrenof Professor Diego De Leo, IASP Past President.The Award is offered to distinguished scholars inrecognition of their outstanding research on suicidalbehaviours carried out in developing countries.Members of the International Association for Sui-cide Prevention (IASP) are invited to nominatesuitable persons for the De Leo Fund Award. It isfor the person who in the view of the award com-mittee has contributed significantly to developingsuicide research in a developing country. Nomineesdo not necessarily have to be IASP members.

TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE DE LEO FUND AWARD,CANDIDATES SHOULD DEMONSTRATE THEFOLLOWING CRITERIA: •Be born in a developingcountry; •Have performed their research in adeveloping country; •Be a young/mid careerresearcher (no more than 20 years from graduation),with a prevailing interest in research in the field ofsuicide;•Be able to demonstrate, through publi-cations in internationally indexed journals, theircompetence in the field of suicide;•Not to be acurrent nominee for any other IASP Award.DE LEO FUND AWARD CHAIRPERSON:Prof. Diego De Leo, Australian Institute for SuicideResearch and Prevention, Griffith University,176 Messines Ridge Rd, Mt. Gravatt CampusMt Gravatt QLD 4122, AustraliaPhone: + 61 7 3735 3377 / Fax: + 61 7 3735 3450E- mail: [email protected]

The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) provides awards for thosewho have contributed in a significant way to the furthering of the aims of the Association.Awards are presented at the IASP biennial conference.

The 3rd Asia Pacific RegionalConference, organised by IASP and theCentre for Suicide Research and Prevention atHong Kong University, was held in Hong Kongfrom October 31 – November 3, 2008. Thephotos show dignitaries at the opening ceremonyand Mr Peter Lee congratulating Mrs LakshmiRatanayake of Sri Lanka on the award shereceived for good practice in suicide preventionin the Asia Pacific region during the “Peter LeeGala Dinner”. The 4th Asia Pacific conferencewill be held in Australia in 2010.

INSTRUCTIONSPlease send your nomination directly to the Chairperson of theappropriate Committee. Attach a brief summary of why you feel the nominee isdeserving.Nominees do not necessarily have to be IASP members.

DEADLINE: 30 April 2009



President:

Vice President:

Vice President:

Prof. Brian Mishara



Treasurer:

General Secretary:

National Rep:

Organisational Rep:



Dr Murad Khan

Dr Jerry Reed


F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9

FROM THE PRESIDENT


Please forward, distribute or disseminate thisnewsletter to others to whom it would be of interest

Montevideo News and moreon Unemployment and Suicide

As the deadline for submitting manuscripts for the XXVth IASP World Congress on Suicide Preventionapproaches (March 16 2009 is the official deadline) many fascinating proposals are being submitted.Funding has been received for translation of the majority of parallel sessions, as well as all plenaryactivities. Also, the organizers have some interesting new developments for the social activities duringthe congress. The Philharmonic Orchestra will be holding a benefit concert for the IASP Congressduring the meetings in the historic Teatro Solis, which is directly across the plaza from the congressvenue. The beautiful Teatro Solis opened in 1857, but was closed to the public from 1998 to 2004in order to undertake extensive renovations. The theatre has now been completely restored to itsmagnificent grandeur and congress participants will be able to purchase tickets for the concert at areduced rate along with their registration. Although submissions are coming in steadily and thereis great interest in the congress, early registrations have only been trickling in (I assume that peopleare waiting until the deadlines for increased registration fees draw near). This means that there isstill the possibility of participating in the lottery for the free hotel room at the Radisson during thecongress, with the winner to be chosen from among the first 50 fully paid registrations received.

One of the fringe benefits of being IASP President is the opportunity to try to instigate somediscussion on important issues by expressing my opinions in this column. My December columnon Suicide and the Economic Depression, raised the ire of a few IASP members who felt that, followingwhat I reported as the “consistent relationship between levels of unemployment and suicidalbehaviour…” I should have made a public announcement that the current economic crisis is likelyto increase the risk of mental ill health and suicide. I was advised to encourage IASP members toadvise their local and national governments on how to mitigate this risk.

I wrote that article in the context of a deluge of contacts from journalists who all wanted to writesensational articles about the impending epidemic of suicides immediately following the financialdownturn. Many journalists expected that there would be an immediate dramatic increase in suicidesand they were poised to feature spectacular articles announcing the suicide epidemic that was aboutto begin or had already started (I succeeded in convincing one to not proceed and not to run a photo-graph on the front page of a major US newspaper of a man in a business suit jumping to his death.)My first concern was to avoid the creation of a self fulfilling prophesy - the sensational reportingcould produce an effect of increased suicides due to well documented media effects. I did this, despitethe findings from Steven Stack's analyses of the impact of publicity about suicides during the GreatDepression. He hypothesized that people would be more vulnerable to being influenced by mediareports on suicide because of the effect of the economic collapse. However, contrary to his expectations,he found that the media effects that are evident in the latter part of the 20th century were simply notpresent during the Great Depression. He concluded that "while mass unemployment may have putmany members of the suicide audience in a suicidal mood, it also created many movements for socialand economic change." "...possibly a considerable portion of the frustration generated by the GreatDepression did not get channelled into a suicidal mood, but, instead was channelled into other-directed aggression in such form as social movements."

I hope that the current economic crisis will not eventually result in increased suicides, but historyteaches us that increased suicides in many parts of the world are most probably on the horizon.I also hope that governments will increase investments in mental health care and suicide preventionin order to decrease the risk. However, it is my experience, from attempts to influence governmentleaders in my own country, that governments are more likely to put their money into job creationprogrammes than increased support for the unemployed. (Perhaps they do not realize that creatingjobs for suicide prevention specialists also helps decrease unemployment rates). As researchers,we need to be vigilant. People involved in prevention and intervention need to develop, implementand evaluate programmes to reduce the potential impact of unemployment on mental health andsuicide risk. We also need to do our best to avoid sensational media reporting on hypothetical suicideepidemics before they occur.

GREETINGS TO IASP MEMBERSI would like to introduce myself as the incomingeditor of the IASP Postvention Taskforce Newsletter.As the National Co-ordinator for the StandByResponse Service based at United Synergies Ltd.on Australia's Sunshine Coast, I oversee the repli-cation of the StandBy postvention response modelin several Australian sites as well as developingseveral programmes within the StandBy for LIFEtraining syllabus. StandBy is a community-basedactive postvention programme, providing a 24-hour co-ordinated response to assist families,friends and associates who have been bereavedthrough suicide.

My interest and passion in addressing the needs of suicide survivors hasbeen greatly enhanced by gaining a Masters of Suicidology with the AustralianInstitute for Suicide Research & Prevention at Griffith University, under thedirectorship of Professor Diego De Leo. Currently completing a Masters inHealth Studies (Grief & Loss) at the University of Queensland, under theprevious directorship of Dr. Judith Murray, my future plans include furtherresearch into suicide bereavement models of care as well as the impact ofmedia on grief experiences. My work in the areas of crisis and traumatic loss& grief combined with my media background and research experience, hasprompted this decision to assist the Postvention Taskforce team in productionof the Newsletter. I deeply appreciate the welcome and support given byprevious editor Michelle Linn Gust and all members of the Taskforce andtake this opportunity to express gratitude to Michelle for her work anddedication in the production of the IASP Postvention Taskforce Newsletter- an invaluable resource for all those involved in this field.

Jill Fisher, National Co-ordinator - StandBy Response Service, United SynergiesLtd.,14 Ernest Street, Tewantin, Queensland, Australia 4560, Ph. 61 7 5455 3322 /Mob.61 0458 406 640. Please contact Jill with contributions or comments [email protected]

JILL FISHERNew editor of the IASPPostvention Task ForceNewsletter.

AWARD TO DR VIJAYAKUMARThe IASP Executive Board and members are delighted to congratulateDr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, long standing member of IASP and nationalrepresentative for India, on her prestigious award from the Royal College ofPychiatrists Education, Training and Standards Committee in recognition ofher outstanding contribution to the profession and to the college.Dr Vijayakumar is the first woman psychiatrist in India to receive this awardand only the second Indian psychiatrist to ever win this award.


newsbu l l e t i n


27–31 OCTOBER 2009 LOTTERY

A lottery will beheld with the prize

FOUR FREE NIGHTSin a double roomat the Radisson Hotelduring the congress.The winner will bedrawn from the first50 people to completeand register with pay-ment for the congress.

XXV IASP WORLD CONGRESS


For Additional Information: www.suicidology.org


COUNTRY REPORTSUICIDE IN ROMANIAMajor changes which occured inRomanian society after the fall of the IronCurtain, in conjunction with individualconsequences generated by fluctuatingsocial values, have led to an intriguingpattern of suicide behavior in Romania.

Romania is located in South-EasternEurope, has an area of 238,000 squarekilometers, 41 counties and the District of Bucharest, and a populationof 21.7 million in 2002 - 45% residing in rural settings. It is surroundedby countries with higher suicide rates, such as Hungary, Ukraine,Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria. Suicide rates within the past decadedeclined to 13.38 suicides per 100,000 population in 2007 from 17.60in 2000. However, there are significant differences from one county toanother and even from one year to another in some counties (Braila,Dolj, Giurgiu, Ilfov). County suicide rates range from less than 10 tomore than 25 suicides/100,000.

Ethnic composition of specific counties has traditionally influencedsuicide rates: counties with a strongly represented Hungarian population(such as Harghita and Covasna) have suicide rates constantly higherthan 30/100,000, while counties with more than 95% Romanianpopulation have lower suicide rates.

However, dramatic changes have occured in certain Romanian areas.County Salaj reported the highest suicide rate in 1998, followed by adramatic decrease - from 20.7/100,000 in 2003 to 14 in 2007. Similartrends are evident in counties Tulcea, Satu Mare, Cluj. Conversely,counties Braila, or Dolj, Giurgiu, Ilfov (a small Romanian populationand traditionally low suicide rates) reported a strong increase in suicidein 2006. These changes suggest the need for targeted strategies oflocal assessment, prevention and intervention and an effort to identifythe underlying factors, regardless of ethnic background.

Romanian mental health professionals can no longer predict suicidepatterns and trends strictly based on local ethnic backgrounds, due tothe fact that certain Romanian counties with similar underpinning (ethnicdistribution and psychopathology) show different patterns of suicide.Therefore, further studies are required in order to ascertain specificlocal risk and protective factors involved in suicidality, and certain stepsin this respect have already been taken by Romania joining a Europeanproject on suicide.

IASP National Representative for Romania, Prof. Doina Cozmane-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

In 2007 an unexpected and unexplained fall in the number of suicidesoccurred in The Netherlands. Suicide figures had been remarkably stableduring the last 15 years, oscillating between 1500 and 1550 a year. In 2006there were 1523 suicides. Suddenly, in 2007, number dropped to 1353,a spectacular decrease of 170 or 11% (the number of railway suicides didnot decrease however). This is an unprecedented fall.

We do not understand why this happened. Nothing spectacular happened inthis country in 2007. The only relevant change was the introduction of a newformat for the notification of suicides in mental health care to the health care inspectorate. Clinicians andmedical directors of mental health care organisations were asked to report each and every case in moredetail, focussing on systematic risk assessment and the explicit focus on suicide-ideation in the treatmentthe patient received. As such the Inspectorate asked the mental health care delivery system to adhere morestrictly to the 2003 guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Although this had quite animpact on the field, it seems unlikely that this renewal had such an impact that it could explain the decreasein suicides in The Netherlands. Only in one third of all cases had the patients had mental health care beforethe suicide. Two thirds were not in contact with mental health care. There are indications that the numberof suicides in 2008 were rising again, notably after the financial crisis started.

There are other positive developments promoting suicide prevention. In 2008 the Ministry of Health finally(after 22 years) launched a suicide prevention plan including several measures to improve mental healthcare, to develop and operate a nationwide 24/7 staffed website and telephonic crisis line especially forsuicidal people, to develop and implement a screening instrument for suicidal adolescents, and to developgood practices and clinical guidelines for the assessment and treatment of suicidal patients. Two specialteams have been established to develop these guidelines and to develop protocols for the chain of deliveryof mental health care for suicidal patients, for example, for care after hospital treatment because of deliberateself harm. Furthermore research grants have been given to interventions for survivors. These are all verypromising developments, although for suicidologists the size of the problem is not yet reflected in the sizeof the measures taken. We will keep you informed about the trends and developments in the near future.

Prof. Doina CozmanIASP National Repre-sentative for Romania

Nominations for IASP Awards (the Stengel ResearchAward, the Ringel Service Award, the Faberow Award forcontributions to work with survivors of suicide, and De LeoFund Award for outstanding suicide research conducted indeveloping countries) close on April 30 2009. For moredetails please see the January 2009 newsletter or the Awards

announcement on the IASP website www.iasp.info

COUNTRY REPORTSUICIDE IN THE NETHERLANDS

Prof. Ad KerkhofIASP NationalRepresentative for theNetherlands

Abstract submission closes on 16th March 2009.

Very early birds registration closes on March

31st. 2009. Please see the website for other

important congress dates www.iasp.info

IASP National Representative for The Netherlands, Professor Ad Kerkhof, e-mail: ajfm.kerkhof @ psy.vu.nl



President:

Vice President:

Vice President:

Prof. Brian Mishara



Treasurer:

General Secretary:

National Rep:

Organisational Rep:



Dr Murad Khan

Dr Jerry Reed


M A R C H 2 0 0 9

FROM THE PRESIDENT


Montevideo deadline extended

The deadline for submitting proposals for presentations at the XXVWorld Congress on Suicide Prevention of IASP in Montevideo,27–31 October 2009, has been extended until 10 April 2009. If youare planning to attend and submit a proposal, you have a bit moretime. Early bird registrations are coming in and we are impressed bythe number of interesting proposals received to date.

Beijing WHO Collaborating Center for Researchand Training in Suicide Prevention

On the 6th to 9th of March 2009 the Beijing Suicide Research andPrevention Center held an inaugural academic meeting and trainingcourse to highlight their designation as a World Health OrganizationCollaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention,the first WHO collaborating center on suicide in a middle and lowincome country. This event, attended by Dr. Benedetto Saraceno,Director of the WHO Department of Mental Health and SubstanceAbuse, included scientific presentations by several prominentresearchers from around the world, as well as an impressive numberof papers by Chinese researchers and practitioners. The IASP Presidentwas there to speak, along with several IASP members, includingAnnette Beautrais, Mort Silverman, Lanny Berman, LakshmiVijayakumar, Lars Mehlum, David Gunnell, Paul Yip, Gustavo Turecki,Armin Schmidtke and Greg Larkin. The WHO collaborating centerstatus recognizes the many accomplishments of the center since itsfounding in 2002.

The Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center is a departmentof Beijing Hui Long Guan Hospital, which is administered by theBeijing Bureau of Health. Since its establishment, the center hasundertaken many international and domestic research projects.It has devised a China-specific methodology for studying suicide,developed culturally sensitive research instruments, and conductedseveral training programs on research methodology and psychologicalinterventions.

The center's Executive Director, Michael Phillips is actively involvedin IASP and his center's research activities include 19 major projects,ranging from a pesticide-control project to case controlled studiesof serious suicide attempters seen in hospital. Besides their numerousresearch activities, the center runs a national toll free 24 hourPsychological Crisis Hotline, offers outpatient and inpatient servicesto suicidal individuals, and provides individual and group supportservices for survivors, and website information and counselling.

Michael Phillips is the China National Representative for IASP andvice-chair of the IASP Council of National Representatives. The statusas a WHO Collaborating Center will help Michael and his 88 colleagueswork to achieve their goal of reducing the huge economic and socialburden of suicide in China, the rest of Asia and around the word.

Sri Lanka Sumithrayo was founded in 1974 byJoan de Mel an ex-Samaritan from London. It isthe only organisation in Sri Lanka whose primaryobjective is the prevention of suicide. Sumithrayowas set up in response to a rapidly increasing rateof suicide in the country: A 227% increase in suiciderates, from 9.7/100,000 in 1961 to 22/100,000 by1973. The first of the Sumithrayo Crisis InterventionCentres/Befriending Centres was opened inColombo in 1974 and now there are elevenBefriending Centres island-wide.

The meagre statistics that were available to Sumi-thrayo in the early 1980's suggested that approxi-mately 25% of all suicides were alcohol-related.Judging from people who contacted Sumithrayofor help it was felt that alcohol and other drugdependencies were major problems, especiallyamongst males. The Sumithrayo Drug DemandReduction Programme was set up in 1984 inColombo to address this situation.

The steady rise in rates of suicide in the 1960'scoincided with the widespread use of agro-chemicalsin the country. In 1995 the suicide rates peaked at47/100,000, one of the highest in the world. Sincethen suicide rates have gradually decreased and by2008 the rate was 20/100,000. Since the early1960's, the most common method of suicide hasbeen the ingestion of agricultural poisons.

The high rate of suicide,especially in rural areas,can be directly linked tothe availability of thesechemicals in village homes.

The Sumithrayo RuralProgramme was set upin 1996 in an effort tocontain the very highrates of suicide andattempted suicide in farming communities whereagro-chemicals are used in most acts of self harmand suicide. The programme presently operates in72 of the most suicide-prone villages in two of thefour most suicide-prone provinces in the country: the North Western and the Southern provinces.Many of these villages are in very remote areas,not easily accessible by road.

The Sumithrayo are experimenting with a three-pronged effort to contain the problem of suicidalbehaviour in villages: 1). Awareness and Education;2). Befriending, the offer of emotional support tothe depressed and despairing; 3). Provision oflockable secure storage boxes to farming familiesfor safely storing pesticides and other householdpoisons.

SRI LANKA SUMITHRAYO

Lakshmi Ratanayeke

Prof. Dan Rujescu

Dear all,We all could not understand what happened asour friend and great man Prof. Andrej Marusicpassed away. We all know what a powerful anddynamic scientist he was, and I am sure that hewould be very happy to see that his IASP Task Forceon Genetics will continue to be active in the future.

I was very much honored to be invited to act asthe new chair of this task force, and would like tothank all people responsible for this!

W will do my best to continue the successfulactivities of this Task Force, and would like to inviteIASP members who are interested in joining thistask force to contact me.

The major goals will be to promote studies ofgenetic aspects of suicide ideation and behaviouramong suicidologists on one side, and to promotegenetic studies of suicide ideation and behaviouramong behavioural geneticists on the other; thusforming an independent discipline of geneticsuicidology.

This Task Force will pro-vide a place where scien-tists interested in geneticsof suicidal behavior caneasily getin contact witheach other, can cooperateand stimulate the wholefield with new studiesand results.

We plan to create aforum on the IASP web-site where members of the Task Force will presentnew interesting papers on genetics and suicidalbehavior and will stimulate discussions open tothe whole audience.

Furthermore we will organize a workshop of theTask Force during IASP meetings to show progressand meet each other to discuss new developments.

I hope that many IASP members will join us!

Best wishes, Dan [email protected]

Chair of the Genetics TaskForce


newsbu l l e t i n

Please send any news items, articles of interest orconference announcements for the monthly newsbulletin to the editor, Dr Annette Beautrais:[email protected]


27–31 OCTOBER 2009

The social programwill include a symphony

concert at the newly

restored 150 year old

Teatro Solis

XXV IASPWORLD CONGRESS

World Suicide Prevention DayEach year, on 10th September, the DanishAssociation for Research and Education inSuicide Prevention organises World SuicidePrevention Day (WSPD) in Denmark, togetherwith Lifeline Denmark and the PsychiatryFoundation. In 2006 WSPD focused on malesuicides, in 2007 on suicides among the elderly,in 2008 suicide in mental illness, and in 2009,will focus on suicidal behaviour among youngwomen.

In association with WSPD, we announce thewinner of the Werther Award, an award given toa person who has contributed at a societal levelwith useful and sober information about suicide.The board deciding who should win the awardis constituted of representatives from the DanishAssociation for Research and Education inSuicide Prevention, the Organization of Bereavedafter Suicide, and Danish Journalists Association.

National network for suicideprevention centres in DenmarkWe have five suicide prevention centres, andthey have a common network meeting annually.At the 2008 meeting, the centres agreed toproduce a common white paper about theactivities and duties for regional competencecentres for suicide prevention, which could serveas the background for application for grants.

Telephoneand e-mailcounseling

Several nationalNGO's are involved intelephone and e-mailcounseling. The lar-gest organization isLife-line Denmark.

ResearchIn Denmark, we have a long tradition for register-based suicide research. In 2007, two reportbased dissertations were accepted and defendedat the University of Copenhagen. One dissertationwas about suicide risk and treatment withantidepressant treatment, the other suicideprevention and attempted suicide in Denmark.

Besides the dissertations, a range of papersregarding risk factors for suicide and attemptedsuicide in different groups have been publishedin high impact journals. Two ongoing, yetunpublished, studies are evaluating the effectof assertive intervention after suicide attempt ina randomized controlled design. Results will bepublished in the years to come.

IASP national representative,Professor Merete Nordentoft, [email protected]

Nominations for Awards(the Stengel Research Award, the Ringel Service Award,the Faberow Award for contributions to work with survivorsof suicide, and De Leo Fund Award for outstanding suicideresearch conducted in developing countries) close onApril 30, 2009. Nominations are open and details areavailable from the website: www.iasp.infoPlease note the new Criteria for the Stengel Award:“Outstanding and active researcher with at least 10 yearsof scientific activity in the field, as evidenced by numberand quality of publications in internationally acknowledgedjournals”.

Abstract submission closes on 10th April 2009.

Very early birds registration closes on March

31st. 2009. Please see the website for other

important congress dates www.iasp.info

Prof. Merete NordentoftIASP NationalRepresentativefor Denmark


For Additional Information: www.suicidology.org


THE 2ND AUSTRALIAN POSTVENTIONCONFERENCE 21st - 23rd May 2009Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre, Australia

The Nobel Conference:The Role of Genetics in Promoting Suicide PreventionJune 8-10 2009 - Stockholm, Sweden

Registration is free. To register contact Tony Durkee([email protected]) or Gergö Hadlaczky ([email protected]).Conference program: http://ki.se/content/1/c6/06/86/11/Program%20 Nobel %20Conference%20June%208-10%202009.pdf

COUNTRY REPORT

SUICIDE PREVENTION ACTIVITIES IN DENMARK

Further details at the conference website:www.hotelnetwork.com.au or

www.suicideprevention.salvos.org.au

This conference “Connectedness - A Link to Hope” provides a wonderfulopportunity for delegates throughout Australia and New Zealand tonetwork and share together their experience and knowledge.

The conference will bring together family and friends who have beenbereaved by suicide; the indigenous, teachers, young people, mentalhealth professionals, general practitioners and medical personnel,clergy, emergency services, researchers, service providers and funeralservice personnel.

International and Australian presentersinclude Prof Ian Webster, Prof GrahamMartin, Dr Judith Murray, Dr Sheila Clark,Dr Frank Campbell, Dr Michelle Linn-Gust,Dr Kari Dyregrov, Dr Scott Poland,Prof Onja Grad and Darrell Henry.



President:

Vice President:

Vice President:

Prof. Brian Mishara



Treasurer:

General Secretary:

National Rep:

Organisational Rep:



Dr Murad Khan

Dr Jerry Reed


M A Y 2 0 0 9

FROM THE PRESIDENT


As the Internet expands as the primary source of information around the world, increasing numbers of peoplein a suicidal crisis search the net for psychological help and emotional support. However, others look to theInternet for information and encouragement in ending their lives. Although there are no reliable data available,there are frequent reports of people who die using methods found on the Internet, as well as people who diedafter cyber-encouragement to proceed with a suicide plan. In this context, it is important to ask what role IASPcan and should play in terms of its mandate to promote suicide prevention around the world.

Perhaps, the first challenge is to specify the purpose and content of the IASP web site. The traditional roleof the site has been to provide information to IASP members and the general public on IASP activities. Thenew IASP site is in the process of development and the focus has been to first provide a user friendly showcaseand repository of information on IASP activities. However, we also provide links to resources to obtain helpfor people who are suicidal or bereaved by suicide. This is essential, since many visitors to the site are eithersuicidal, know someone who is considering suicide or are bereaved by suicide. As we begin to provide linksto information on suicide and postvention, we realize that the demand is enormous and that it is a very timeconsuming task to determine which of the many sites should be recommended on our site. It is an impossibletask to visit and evaluate the pertinence of all suicide prevention resources on the web. Also, it would not beuseful to provide so many links to information of varying quality that someone seeking help on our site doesnot easily find the help they need. Whenever we suggest a link to a resource we implicitly “approve” of the sitecontent being useful, despite any disclaimers we may provide when visitors leave our site to follow a link. Thecurrent challenge facing IASP is to provide essential help to site visitors without draining our limited resourcesin evaluating, selecting and monitoring sites chosen from the many thousands of potential web sites aroundthe world.

A second challenge is what to do, if anything, about sites that incite, encourage or provide “how to do it”information on suicide. As the President of IASP I often receive letters asking that IASP “do something about”a site that they feel is dangerous. One poignant email arrived from a father who was convinced that his sonwould not have killed himself if he had not been encouraged to commit suicide during an online chat. As I havewritten elsewhere (Mishara & Weisstub, 2007), any attempt at control or censorship of the Internet must beconsidered in the perspective of rights to freedom of expression and the reality that repressive measures aregenerally impossible to enforce. Still, IASP could potentially take a public stand or adopt policies to encouragepolicies to limit internet content that encourages suicide. We could also develop or incite others to developpro-active monitoring of potentially dangerous sites and to join in on chats and internet forums where suicideis encouraged in order to provide support and references to prevent suicides.

IASP and its members must decide where to focus their limited resources and we must all decide where toinvest our energy in suicide prevention activities. There are many interesting areas where we may want toexpand our internet presence. One possibility is to provide resources in languages that are not well served bysuicide prevention activities. However, at the present time we rely upon volunteers to translate our web sitecontent, with a moderate success. We must also decide how to handle emails received. I believe that peoplein crisis or in a desperate situation benefit most from a personalized response, even if the response is to referthe person to other resources. However, whenever I answer requests for help I wonder if, by doing so, I amencouraging more people to write, and at some point I, or others in the organization, will simply be overwhelmedby the demand.

A friend who works in the field of Artificial Intelligence has insisted that a sophisticated computer programmecan respond to all requests in a warm empathetic manner, and that this is the best way to help many peopleand provide personalised referrals. I have played with some experimental programmes and often it is difficultto believe that the kind and caring response is computer generated. But, occasionally the computer gets itwrong. My friend says this is just a “bug” that needs sorting - and the final version would be better than mosthuman replies. It certainly is tempting, but I have what my friend views as an “irrational” concern, that realhuman contact is (or at least should be) what is warranted. Your personal (not computer generated) commentsare welcome.

Nominations for AwardsStengel Research Award, the Ringel Service Award,the Faberow Award for contributions to work withsurvivors of suicide, and De Leo Fund Award foroutstanding suicide research conducted indeveloping countries

- DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TOJUNE 15, 2009Nominations are open and details areavailable from the website: www.iasp.info

Benefits and Harm from the Internet

Reference: Mishara, B. L. & Weisstub, D.N. (2007) Ethical, Legal and Practical Issues in the Control and Regulation of SuicidePromotion and Assistance over the Internet. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 37(1), 58-65.

COUNTRY REPORT UGANDAA wave of suicides/homicide in UgandaUganda, a developing country (GNP per capita $279) in Eastern Africa, issurrounded to the north by Sudan, to the east by Kenya, to the west by DemocraticRepublic of Congo, and to the south by both Rwanda and Tanzania. Most (85%)of its 30 million people live in rural areas where the main source of income ispeasant agriculture. The country does not routinely collect suicide data, but froman ongoing MOH/WHO study in war-affected Northern Uganda a crude suiciderate of between 20.0-15.0/100,000 (2005-7) has been estimated.

In a pattern that began last year and continues into this year, Uganda is experiencinga wave of suicides, usually combined with homicides, reported from all over thecountry. These suicides are reported across all strata of the population: the urban;the rural; those from war affected communities; professional groups such as thearmy and the police; and patient groups such as persons living with HIV/AIDS.The suicide/homicide account that most caught the attention of the countryoccurred on the 1st August 2008 when Marion, a young mother of three fromone of the suburbs of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, killed all her threechildren aged four, three and one and half years and later attempted to commitsuicide by drinking poison. The issues that appeared to underlie this tragedyincluded: urban poverty; loneliness and lack of social support in the impersonalworld of a big urban centre; marital friction and threats of divorce by the husbandover her inability to give him male children.

In response to this wave of suicide/homicide the Mental Health Division of theMinistry of Health of Uganda put together a task force to develop a communicationresponse to educate members of the general public about this problem.

At a one day workshop a fact sheet with key messages about the problem ofsuicide and homicide was developed and later shared with the media at a pressconference at the Ministry of Health headquarters on the 8th August 2008. Themedia engaged members of the task force in a lively discussion and carriedexcerpts from the fact sheet and the press conference in both electronic and printmedia during the following days.

IASP National Representative for Uganda,Dr Eugene Kinyanda, email: [email protected]

Dr Eugene Kinyanda and others


newsbu l l e t i n

On May 15, 2009, Dr. Edwin S. Shneidman died of naturalcauses at his home in Los Angeles. Dr. Shneidman, a memberof IASP and founding president of the American Association ofSuicidology (AAS), had just celebrated his 91st birthday. He issurvived by four sons, six grandchildren. His beloved wife,Jeanne, died in 2001.

Dr. Shneidman had a profound influence on the field of Suicidology(a neologism he coined), and on untold numbers of suicidologistswhom he mentored, stimulated intellectually, and seduced to thestudy and prevention of suicide. While working as a Ph.D.psycho-logist for the Veterans Administration in 1949, heserendipitously came across a trove of suicide notes at the LosAngeles County Coroner's Office and immediately envisioneda case-control research study comparing real versus simulatednotes to help better understand the minds of those that died bysuicide. A lifelong career in the study of suicide followed.

With his colleague and past-IASP president, Dr. NormanFarberow, he co-founded the Los Angeles Suicide PreventionCenter (LASPC) in 1958, which, with the addition of RobertLitman as psychiatric director, became a model for all centersto follow and a Mecca for training future leaders in the field.While there, and under contract to the LA Coroner's Office,procedures were developed to investigate retrospectively adecedent's contribution to their own death, the psychologicalautopsy, a method now indelibly etched into the armamentariumof research and forensic suicidologists worldwide and whichhas been singularly responsible for differentially defining riskfactors for suicide through case-control research studies. TheLASPC's psychological autopsy of the sensational and suddendeath of actress Marilyn Monroe in the summer of1962 led toa surge in calls to the Center (and international renown for theLASPC) and the need for significant numbers of people to handlethe influx. Shneidman pioneered and championed the role andimportance of using trained lay volunteers to provide help tosuicidal callers -- the use of volunteers has since become thestaple of crisis intervention services world-wide. Starting in1963, the LASPC became the first suicide prevention center inthe world to offer 24-hour help to callers.

Dr. Shneidman left the LASPC in 1966 when he was asked tobecome the first director of the Center for Studies of SuicidePrevention at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).While there, he convened a convened a conference in Chicagoin the spring of 1968, bringing together a heterogeneous groupof international scholars interested in the study of suicide, who,came to consensus that there was a dire need for a nationalorganization for suicide prevention. By the close of that meeting,the AAS was founded. The Center's initial publication, the Bulletinof Suicidology (1968-1971), was the forerunner to the AAS'sjournal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior (SLTB), whichShneidman founded in 1971 and edited until 1981. In his brieftenure at the NIMH, the number of suicide prevention centers inthe United States, more than tripled.

As a visiting professor at Harvard University in 1969, hebefriended psychiatrist-psychologist Henry Murray, whose workon the classification of human needs later inspired Shneidmanto develop “ten commonalities of suicide,” Later in 1969, Dr.Shneidman returned to California to become a fellow at the

Center for Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences at StanfordUniversity. The following year he accepted an offer to becomea tenured professor in medical psychology at the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1975 he became UCLA'sfirst Professor of Thanatology. Over the next decade he wouldspend sabbatical time at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholmand as a visiting professor of thanatology at the Ben GurionUniversity of the Negev in Israel.

Dr. Shneidman was a prolific writer, authoring or editing some20 books. His1974 work, Deaths of Man, was a finalist for aNational Book Award. His last, A Commonsense Book of Death(Oxford), was published last year commensurate with his 90thbirthday.

His career is marked by many honors and awards including theAmerican Psychological Association's award for DistinguishedProfessional Contributions to Public Service, the AAS's LouisI. Dublin Award for a career of outstanding service andcontributions to the field of Suicidology (1972), and UCLA'sDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science's OutstandingSenior Faculty Award in 1992. In May 2005, Marian Collegeawarded him an honorary Doctorate of Letters and announcedthe creation of the Edwin S. Shneidman Program in Thanatology.He, perhaps, felt most honored to have an annual award foryoung contributors given out in his name by the AAS.

Dr. Shneidman's was a Herman Melville scholar and saw, inMelville's writings, especially in his classic Moby Dick, a plethoraof metaphors about suicide. He built a significant collection ofMelville memorabilia, now contributed to and displayed as TheEdwin S. Shneidman and David W. Shneidman Collection ofHerman Melville at UCLA. The collection includes around 160volumes, many first edition books, as well as biographies ofMelville. Dr. Shneidman arguably had the largest (and perhapsthe only) collection of whale-imprinted ties, which he worepractically daily.

Dr. Shneidman was a towering intellect, a brilliant theoreticianand clinician, and a fervent spokesperson for the empathic under-standing of the psychological pain of those suicidal. He coinedthe phrase psychache to capture the hurt, anguish, and psycholo-gical pain in the minds of the suicidal. His theories, writings,and presentations rejected reductionistic efforts to understandsuicide as simply a consequence of our genes or of depressionand implored clinicians to understand the psychological needsof those at risk for suicide and the unbearability of their psycholo-gical pain. He suggested that clinicians needed to ask but twoquestions: “Where do you hurt?” and “How may I help you?”He coined the word postvention to describe activities to helpthose bereaved by a suicide of a loved one, and promoted theinclusion of survivors in efforts to prevent suicide.

He delighted in the use of a turn of a phrase, a bon mot, a subtleribaldry, or an oxymoron to capture attention to his theories andhis clinical insights. Accordingly, his autobiography, publishedin 1989 by Brooks/Cole, was entitled A Life in Death.

Suicidology has lost its founder and, to his last days, its mostardent champion.His passing will be deeply mourned.

Dr Lanny Berman,Executive Director, American Association of Suicidology

Edwin S. Shneidman, founding president ofThe American Association of Suicidology, dies at 91

Edwin S. Shneidman 1918 - 2009Edwin S. Shneidman died aged 91 on May 15, 2009 in hishome in West Los Angeles. Despite his age he never lostthe spirit of a researcher and a thinker. He was always prolificwith ideas and suggestions and unfaltering in fueling thedevelopment of suicidology.

I spoke with him two days before his death, on his birthday,and he confessed that it was the end but actually found thewords to thank me and say goodbye. Despite his “Waitingfor death” as he stated, he conserved his scientific interestedin the end of life process, indefatigably exploring it. He ad-mitted that every so often he wished to be dead but alsoasked me recently “'Please continue phoning me, you keepme alive in this way”. He was so in love with life that itseemed that he had to convince himself that such passionmust set the pace for death. He wrote in 1973 “Death whileit might be explored, can never be fully charted”.

Ed. has been a friend and mentor for a number of years.Despite a big generation gap, we got acquainted and deve-loped a mutual sincere interest. He was always kind, sweet,polite, and articulate as well as kindly severe for things ofwhich he did didn’t approve. His dedications to me in lettersand books are really precious drops of his enormous wisdomthat I will never forget. When meeting him in Los Angeleslast year I found a man filled with memories and remini-scences of all kinds. I discovered a truly beautiful humanbeing who was grateful for what life had given to him. Hishouse was full of collections related to his great love for hisfamily and for his beloved wife as well as with signs of hisinterest for Melville and Murray. During the conversationyou could appreciate the emotions of a sensible man whobecame excited by simple things. He always stressed theneed to include a mentalistic approach when trying tounderstand suicide. His was the view of a person who nevergave up the mission to ameliorate the psychological dramaoccurring in suicidal individuals. Suicidology has lost acharismatic figure who shaped the world’s view of suicideover the past decades. Everyone involved in suicideprevention is united in paying tribute to this man and histremendous achievements.

Maurizio Pompili, MD, PhD , IASP National Representativefor Italy - [email protected]

We are deeply indebted to Dr Lanny Berman, Executive Director ofthe American Association of Suicidology (AAS) (founded by DrShneidman) for providing this obituary, and to Dr Maurizio Pompili,IASP National Representative for Italy and recipient of the 2008 AASShneidman Award for suicide research for his sharing his memoriesof his friend and mentor Dr Shneidman.


newsbu l l e t i n

Malaysia is a small country of 26 million people from diverseethnic and social backgrounds. Situated at the southern tip of theAsian mainland, it has historically received major socio-culturalinputs from the Middle East, South Asia and the Far East.

Two major developments have taken place on the suicide preventionscene in Malaysia in the past 2 years. The first is the setting up ofthe National Suicide Register in 2007. The second is the formationof a Task Force (Working Group) to work towards implementinga National Suicide Prevention Program.

National Suicide Register (NSR)Malaysian suicide statistics are woefully inadequate. Most suicidesappear to be misclassified as deaths due to undetermined causes.To rectify this, the Department of Psychiatry of the Kuala LumpurHospital with the collaboration from the Universities and therelevant divisions of the Malaysian Ministry of Health has initiatedthe NSR. It is an ambitious project because it seeks eventually tocover all hospitals in Malaysia involving all forensic pathologydepartments which conduct autopsies on all unnatural deaths.Forensic department staff are trained to interview relatives andreview all available data so that suicides will not be misclassifiedas accidental deaths or as deaths due to undetermined causes.

The first report covering the last 6 months of 2007 has beenreleased. Though it is not complete (only some of the states

returned the requisite data) and there are still teething problems,it makes interesting reading. For example, men and women choseequally lethal methods of committing suicide. Suicide by carbonmonoxide poisoning (car exhaust fumes) is almost exclusivelyemployed by the Chinese. This may have something to do withthe fact that Chinese news media have in the past given extensivecoverage to suicides by this method. My colleagues are currentlyworking on collecting data on the reporting pattern of Chinesenewspapers and their possible effect on the choice of method ofsuicide among Malaysian Chinese.

We hope the 2008 data will be out soon and will be more completeso that we may have reliable statistics that will enable us to planprevention activities in a more informed way. We hope the initiatorsof this project will be able to present these data soon.

National Suicide Prevention Plan (NSPP)

In 2004 we held a workshop on Formulating a National SuicidePrevention Plan. Implementing the program has taken a long timeand in 2007 through 2008 the Working Group set up by theMinistry of Health (MOH) has been working hard to bring this tofruition. The NSR will complement this effort by providing timelyand useful data.

The WHO has agreed to fund a Consultant to advise the MOH onthe implementation of this program. We are currently waiting for

the funds to be released and a Consultant has been identified. TheConsultant will help finalize the Suicide Prevention Plan of Action,conduct Train the Trainers Workshops, and be involved in relatedactivities. We hope by the end of 2009 that, at long last, a viableprogram will be in place. This is always difficult in developingcountries where so many health issues are priorities. Further, inthe prevailing economic climate public funding for new programsis bound to be restricted. Nevertheless, we are hopeful that theNSPP will eventually succeed in reducing suicides in this country.

World Suicide Prevention Day

The WSPD in 2008 was observed ina rather low key way because of bud-getary problems. A pharmaceuticalfirm sponsored a press conferencewith mainly the print media with afair amount of public exposure andeducation about suicide.

I hope to share more detailedinformation about progress in theseactivities at the IASP Congress inMontevideo in October.

Prof Maniam Thambu, email: [email protected]

S Y M P O S I U M A N D C O N F E R E N C E S

Please send any news items, articles of interestor conference announcements for the monthlynews bulletin to the editor, Dr Annette Beautrais:[email protected]


27–31 OCTOBER 2009The social programwill include a symphonyconcert at the newlyrestored 150 year old

Teatro Solis


Abstract submission closed on 10th April 2009. Veryearly birds registration closed on March 31st. 2009.

Please see the website for otherimportant congress dateswww.iasp.info

The Nobel Conference:The Role of Genetics in Promoting Suicide PreventionJune 8-10 2009 - Stockholm, Sweden

Registration is free. To register contact Tony Durkee([email protected]) or Gergö Hadlaczky ([email protected]).Conference program: http://ki.se/content/1/c6/06/86/11/Program%20 Nobel %20Conference%20June%208-10%202009.pdf

COUNTRY REPORT MALAYSIA

Prof Maniam Thambu,IASP NationalRepresentative forMalaysia

We are very pleased to introduce to you in the next few months some of the people who work behind the scenes for IASP.

IASP HONORS BEHIND-THE-SCENES CONTRIBUTORS

Ellen Jepson is the person who does a magnificent job convertinginternationally-sourced assorted items of information into the well-designedIASP news bulletin each month. Ellen works from home, in the countrysideoutside Stavanger, Norway. A graphic designer and illustrator, her work consistsof designing brochures, posters, logos, books and maps for various institutions,museums, papers and private firms. She came to IASP via her work withNorwegian psychiatrist Gerd-Ragna Bloch Thorsen, designing and illustratingbrochures about mental illnesses for patients, their families and the public.As well as the layout for the IASP news bulletin she prepares the layout for"Suicidology" (a magazine published 3 times a year by the Norwegian National

Centre for Suicide Prevention) and the magazine published by ISPS (TheInternational Society for the Psychological treatments of the Schizophreniasand other Psychoses).Ellen finds her suicide-related work very interesting and rewarding, bringingher into contact with all those people who, in various ways are involved withsuicide prevention work, and for whom she has great respect and admiration.Outside work, she has two grown-up children, Susanne and Magnus, playsgolf - often with her English husband, is on the board of a regional naturepreserve organization, and spends time with her two horses, a little flock ofsheep, various cats, free range hens and rabbits.



President:

Vice President:

Vice President:

Prof. Brian Mishara



Treasurer:

General Secretary:

National Rep:

Organisational Rep:



Dr Murad Khan

Dr Jerry Reed


J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 0 9

FROM THE PRESIDENTORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSOF IASP SNEHA INDIASneha, started operations in Chennai, South India in the summer of April 1986.A founding member of Befrienders India and a member of IASP, Sneha has introduced many innovativesuicide prevention programs in the Indian context. Manned by 50 trained volunteers, Sneha offers befriendingservices 24hrs over the phone, from 8.00a.m to 10.p.m for visits, and through letters and email.

Sneha had the distinction of being the first NGO to host the Biennial Conference of the InternationalAssociation for Suicide Prevention from 22nd - 26th September 2001 which was co-sponsored by the WorldHealth Organisation. Over four hundred luminaries from the fields of Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology andSocial Work, hailing from 22 countries participated in the conference, which was held in Asia for the firsttime.

Sneha has taken the lead in evolving a National Framework for India on Suicide Prevention Strategy. Adraft for this framework was prepared and presented to India's Minister for Health and Family Welfare inOctober 2006 and we were successful in incorporating suicide prevention in the National Mental HealthPolicy.

Farmers committing suicide through the use of pesticides has been a burning national concern in the lastdecade. Sneha and The Centre for Suicide Research, University of Oxford, organized a National Review ofPesticide Suicides supported by Syngenta, with participation of representatives from the fields of medicine,mental health, social research and development and industry. Several strategies to effectively curtail theoccurrence of suicides were identified and Sneha is currently involved in one of the major recommendations- promoting community storage for pesticides.

Seeking the decriminalization of suicide to enable proper medical care and provision of service to thevictim is the most recent initiative of Sneha. Advocating the repealing of Section 309 of the Indian PenalCode which defines attempt to commit suicide as a criminal offense, Sneha has drawn support from theChairman of the Law Commission of India. Sneha has been instrumental in promoting the World SuicidePrevention Day in India.

Over the years Sneha has offered many outreach programs targeting specific groups that need intervention:

Schools: Every year the stress of parental expectations and increased competition create enormous stressfor students approaching their school leaving board examinations. Our school outreach programs are runthrough the early part of the academic year to educate students on Coping with Stress. From 2001, Snehahas ensured round the clock services to students and parents under stress during the run up to theexaminations and in the period when results are declared.

Self-help Groups: Women's self-help groups are a growing instrument for social and financial empowermentof women. The suicide statistics show that young women in the under 30 age group at greater risk in India.Awareness workshops for these groups have been conducted since 2003.

Tsunami: Training Programs were conducted for field workers and others involved in relief. Our volunteerswere asked to help prepare training manuals for UNDP, UNICEF and WHO on training volunteers and reliefworkers during disasters. Interventions were specifically designed for children affected by tsunami and forthe bereaved family members. The interventions and the evaluations havebeen published in international journals.

We have conducted workshops for students, nurses, media, generalpractitioners, police personnel, refugees and other NGO's.

Sneha has not restricted its suicide prevention activities by functioningjust as a crisis centre, but also has taken a lead in raising awarenessabout suicide prevention in all sections of the society. Its advocacy andintervention programmes have also been well recognized. Sneha hasemerged as a flagship organization for suicide prevention in India.

REPORT PREPARED BY DR LAKSHMI VIYAJAKUMAR


Montevideo CongressThe large number of presentations submitted for the 2009 IASP World Congressin Montevideo has resulted in some delays in finalizing the programme. Over 450submissions were received and evaluated by the Scientific Committee. Final decisionswill be sent out by the end of June. The deadline for reduced registration fees willbe extended for all persons who submitted a proposal until July 15. Others shouldregister by June 30 to obtain the reduced registration fees. I highly recommendincluding with your registration tickets for the optional Philharmonic OrchestraConcert in the newly renovated historic Solis Theatre. All proceeds will go to IASPand the local organizers, the Montevideo helpline Ultimo Recourso.

WHO ActivitiesSuicide prevention has recently been included as a priority as part of the mhGAP(mental health Gap Action Programme) initiative of the Department of Mental Healthand Substance Abuse of the World Health Organization. This programme aims atimproving mental health services in low and middle income countries by “scalingup” care for mental, neurological and substance abuse disorders. The “evidencebased” suicide prevention activities that WHO will promote in this initiative are:Restriction of access to common methods of suicide and the prevention and treatmentof depression, and alcohol and drug dependence. These are certainly laudableactivities. Nonetheless, there are many other components to a complete nationalsuicide prevention strategy, as indicated in guidelines for national strategies publishedby WHO.

IASP is the only suicide prevention organization in Official Relations with WHO.The IASP President met in May to discuss collaborative projects with the Directorof the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Dr. Benedetto Saraceno,and the other key WHO personnel involved in suicide prevention. WHO has officiallyagreed to co-sponsor World Suicide Prevention Day again in 2009, and we arehoping to be able to arrange a launch event on the 10th of September, possibly atthe United Nations Headquarters in New York. I will update you on this in the comingmonth. We will continue with the successful joint IASP-WHO guidelines publications,developed by IASP Task Forces, and we plan to collaborate in several other initiatives.A new collaborative initiative that was discussed was to work together towarddecriminalizing suicidal behaviours in countries where suicide attempts are stillconsidered to be a criminal offense. For a variety of reasons, which were explainedto me as being mostly administrative and related to internal considerations, WHOhas cancelled their formal agreement with IASP to collaborate on an initiative in theprevention of pesticide suicides. Dr Saraceno explained that WHO will continue withthe project, which involves funding of three pilot programmes run by IASP membersin China, India and Sri Lanka.

At WHO, as in many parts of the world, suicide has been considered as primarilya problem that is the purview of their Mental Health Division. WHO also has aDepartment of Injury and Violence Prevention. Although the World Report on Violenceand Health (2002) clearly indicates that that suicidal behaviours (“self-directedviolence”) constitute the most common category of violent injuries and account forthe most burden of violent injuries worldwide, WHO violence prevention activitiesfocus almost exclusively on interpersonal violence. To date, the international ViolencePrevention Alliance that WHO has developed has given little attention to self-directedviolence. IASP has representatives in this alliance and we hope that suicidal behaviourswill receive more attention in the future.

Montevideo Congress Update;Suicide and working with WHO

Lakshmi Viyajakumar

Reports and news items for the IASP bulletin are soughtfrom other organizational members. Please send toDr Annette Beautrais: [email protected]


newsbu l l e t i n

Suicide in Ukraine - Time Trends and Prevention EffortsUkraine became an independent country in 1991 with the fall of the USSR. Since that time, suicide statistics have become public, the problem of suicide in Ukraine has beenacknowledged and suicide research at national level has started. Several local monographs on the problem of suicidein the Ukraine have now been published. The changes observed in suicide rates over the last 20 years are typical of all post-Soviet industrial countries in transition - a fairly

low rate during “perestroika”, and a dramatic rise after the fall of the USSR. In 1995 thesuicide rate in Ukraine was about 30 per 100 000 giving rise to serious concerns. Sincethen, the rate has persistently declined, and according to official WHO data, most recentdata (2006) indicate the rate was a little lower than 20. There are striking regional differencesin the suicide rates in Ukraine. While the industrialized and mostly inhabited western partof the country demonstrates very high rates (about 33 per 100 000), in the mostly agri-cultural and religious southern part suicide rates are 3 times lower. One of the majorproblems is the high male suicide rate (the gender ratio is about 5:1). Males who die bysuicide are predominantly of middle age, with destructive pattern of alcohol consumption,and most live in the county-side. The predominant method (about 80%) is hanging.

Suicide prevention measures in Ukraine are implemented mostly by volunteer organizations,professional associations and local initiative groups, such as Human Ecological Healthin Odessa region (www.humeco.org.ua). This organization, with support from the inter-national professional suicidology community, created a network of professionals aroundthe country and has recently formulated a National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Thedocument is not accepted officially, although it is supported by the authorities, professionalassociations, schools, army and police system, and the medical community.

Mass media reports about suicide in the Ukraine stray rather far from the standardsrecommended for suicide prevention. On the other hand, the growing number of publicationsabout suicide in the Ukraine, the growing number of psychologists, and better educationof GPs and psychiatrists raise hopes for enhanced understanding of the problem of suicidein Ukraine, for improved attitudes in the general public and amongst authorities, and forthe promotion of further suicide prevention measures at local and national levels.

Prof. Vsevolod Rozanov, MD, PhDChair of clinical psychology, Institute of Innovative Post-Diploma Education,Odessa National Mechnikov University, Odessa, Ukraine

Suicide prevention activities in indonesia

Indonesia, as the largest Moslem population in the world(86% of the total 220 million population), has a serious problem in preventing suicide,especially in the face of religiousdenials of expressions of

suicidal ideation, depression and other mental disorders.Religious proscriptions against suicide are very strong:In Islam suicide is a sin, more condemmed than killing.Suicide is reported more frequently among non-Islamics,and amongst those of Chinese and Indian descent.

After the tsunami disaster in Aceh on December 2004, it wasconsidered that mental disorders might affect as many asone in eight of the population of the devastated province.Benedetto Saraceno, Director of WHO's Department of MentalHealth and Substance Abuse warned that suicides might beexpected to increase in the aftermath of the disaster. Hesuggested that two things needed to be done: Firstly, to traincommunity leaders, women and people rooted in thecommunity; Secondly, to strenghthen health sectors in Aceh,where, at the time, there were only five psychiatrists.

As a National Representative of IASP since 1984, I alwaystry to promote the IASP message, especially on World SuicidePrevention Day, to the government, professionals (especiallypsychiatrists), community leaders, and mass media. I publish,via seven prominent national newspapers, IASP's WSPDmessage, informing readers and increasing awareness ofsuicide prevention. I also give presentations on suicideprevention, and speak at scientific meeting and congressesabout the importance of suicidal behavior. In addition, pressconferences and seminars are held by the IndonesianPsychiatric Assosiation in big cities like Jakarta, Surabaya,Medan, Yogyakarta, Solo, Macassar and Den Pasar (Bali) on

WSPD to promote knowledge of suicide prevention for healthprofessionals and community leaders. In April 2009 theIndonesian Psychiatric Assosiation held a National Seminaron Suicide Prevention in Surabaya, the first suicide preventionseminar to be held in Indonesia. Hopefully, in the future,psychiatrists will work more actively with all professionalsallied to mental health, government and community leadersto prevent suicide. The Ministry of Health, sponsored byWHO, published a technical manual on suicide preventionfor health professionals in 2007. I contributed to this, andlocal doctors working at primary health centers with a highprevalence of suicide cases were invited to prepare the manualand outline their experiences of preventing suicide. Despiteall these efforts, however, there are only three members ofIASP in Indonesia, despite Indonesia having the highestsuicide rate for countries with a Moslem majority (with areputed rate of 24 per 100 000), and a total of more than50 000 suicides per year.

In Indonesia, population risk factors for suicide are high -almost half of the population has an income of less than$ 2 per day; 10 million are either unemployed, or haveuntreated mental disorders and are exposed to psychosocialstresssors such as natural and man made disasters, violence,and political unrest.

It is difficult to obtain national suicide data from the Ministryof Health and National Police, even though suicide, overdoseand homicide are supposed to be compulsorily reported tothose two institutions. The only data I have been able toobtain is from the Department of Forensic Medicine andMedicolegal, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia inJakarta, and dates from 1997. The data pertain only to Jakarta(the capital city) and its surroundings with approximately12 million population: the suicide rate is 58 / 100 000; mostsuicides are male (ratio 2 :1) and, of 1119 cases, 41% werehanging and 23% used pesticides. Attempted suicide, withoutfatal outcome, was predominatly female (ratio 2 : 1), and bypesticides 62%, drugs (17%) and poison (18%).

S Y M P O S I U M C O N F E R E N C E S A N N O U N C E M E N T S

Please send any news items, articles of interestor conference announcements for the monthlynews bulletin to the editor, Dr Annette Beautrais:[email protected]


27–31 OCTOBER 2009The social programwill include a symphonyconcert at the newlyrestored 150 year old

Teatro Solis


Abstract submission closed on 10th April 2009. Veryearly birds registration closed on March 31st. 2009.


COUNTRY REPORTS

Prof. Vsevolod RozanovIASP National Repre-sentative for Ukraine

Radisson Hotel Lottery WinnerThe IASP 2009 Congress organizershave much pleasure in announcingthat the winner of the free hotel stayduring the Congress, very graciouslyand generously offered by theRadisson Hotel in Montevideo, is: DAVID HOUGH, of the NelsonMarlborough District Health Board, New Zealand.

Dr. A. PrayitnoIASP National Repre-sentative for Indonesia



President:

Vice President:

Vice President:

Prof. Brian Mishara



Treasurer:

General Secretary:

National Rep:

Organisational Rep:



Dr Murad Khan

Dr Jerry Reed


A U G U S T 2 0 0 9

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Shortly after the Olympic athletes left Beijing last summer, another visitor arrived in the Chinese capital - a stick insect called Zippy.

He is one of the characters in an international pro-gramme called Zippy's Friends, which is helping100,000 young children around the world todevelop coping skills.

The programme was pioneered by Befrienders International (nowBefrienders Worldwide) as an experiment in suicide pre-prevention - ifyoung children can learn how to cope with difficulties, they should bebetter able to handle problems and crises in adolescence and adult life.

The programme is built around a set of stories about a group of youngchildren who have to confront familiar issues - friendship, communication, feeling lonely, bullying,dealing with change and loss, and making a new start. Over 24 weekly sessions, children aged fromfive to seven learn to identify and talk about their feelings, and to explore ways of dealing with them.They are also encouraged to help other people with their problems. The programme is taught by classteachers, who are specially trained to deliver it.

Zippy's Friends is managed by a UK-based non-profit agency, Partnership for Children. Originallydeveloped in Denmark and Lithuania, it is now running in primary schools and kindergartens in 16countries - from Iceland to India, São Paulo to Shanghai. Cultural adjustments, which are cruciallyimportant with programmes for teenagers, have proved to be less of an issue with younger children,and the lessons being taught in a violent and deprived area of London are the same as those beingtaught to children of the Sámi reindeer herders in Northern Norway.

Of course, it is impossible to evaluate whether the programmehelps to prevent suicide, but a number of studies have foundthat children who complete Zippy's Friends show clearimprovements in their coping and social skills.Major ongoing studies in Ireland and Norway are alsoshowing promising results, and the programme hasbeen recognised by the World Health Organisation,the World Federation for Mental Health and a numberof national and regional governments.

For more information, see www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk


I have a lot of news to share during these usually quiet summer months. First,after several years of searching and finally consideration of three interestingproposals, the IASP Board of Directors voted to accept the proposal from theNational Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Norway to move the IASPCentral Administrative Office to the Gaustad Campus of the University of Oslo,Faculty of Medicine. The move will be initiated in the Fall of 2009 and we aregrateful to Lars Mehlum and the National Centre for Suicide Research and Preven-tion to offer us offices free of charge as well as furniture, cleaning, maintenanceand electricity at no cost. The premises, owned by the Oslo University HospitalTrust, will be managed by a General Director of IASP who will be recruited forthe job and supported by an administrative assistant. This move will facilitate theexpansion and development of IASP activities in the coming years and the stabilityof the organization.

The IASP Board also decided to increase the number of issues of our officialjournal, Crisis, from four to six issues per year starting in January 2010. Crisisis provided to all IASP members as part of their membership benefits. This in-crease will allow the editors, who are receiving far more good articles than theycan publish, to increase the proportion of articles published in the journal andprovide for more timely publication of submissions. Although there will be a50% increase in the number of issues, the publisher, Hogrefe, has generouslyproposed to only increase the costs to IASP members by 25%, who receive thejournal as part of their IASP membership, with IASP being billed at a cost thatis substantially reduced from the price for the general public. The Board will bedebating whether to propose at the Annual General Meeting in Montevideo anincrease in dues to compensate for this approximately 20$US per member costor try to finance the expansion of CRISIS by other means.

On World Suicide Prevention Day, 10 September 2009, there will be a launchactivity at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, co-sponsored by theWorld Health Organization and the IASP President will participate in a press con-ference at the United Nations on this important event. More details will be postedon the IASP website (www.iasp.info). Anyone who is interested in attending thisevent will find information on the IASP website in the coming month. IASPmembers are encouraged to look at examples posted on our web site of WorldSuicide Prevention Day activities in other years for inspiration. You should alsosend us your 2009 activities so that we can post a selection of activities on theIASP website again this year. (send to [email protected])

The Montevideo XXVth World Congress on suicide prevention of IASP isshaping up to be an extraordinary event. With 4 pre-conference workshops, 22plenary speakers, 13 short workshops during the conference, almost 300 oralpresentations and 100 poster presentations, this event will provide considerablestimulation for people interested in any aspects of suicide prevention and post-vention. In addition to the scientific programme, there will be meetings of 6 IASPTask Forces and interesting social events, including an “Asado” (barbecue) ona ranch with gauchos and tango dancers (included with everyone's registration)and an optional benefit concert by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Montevideo inthe fabulous Solis Theatre. The costs are quite reasonable in comparison withprevious congresses. This meeting will be held in springtime in Montevideo andit will be a wonderful opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world.

Relocation of Central Office, expansion ofthe Journal Crisis, United Nations launchof World Suicide Prevention Day andMontevideo submissions exceed expectations

Contributions for the news bulletin are welcomed from other

organizations. Please send any contributions to Dr Jerry Reed or contact

him for advice about preparing your report. [email protected]

PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN

CRIS BALE


newsbu l l e t i n

Hong Kong, a former British Colony which has now become a Special Administrative Region of the People'sRepublic of China since 1997, has experienced one of the most drastic changes in it's suicide rate. The rate increased from 12.5 per 100,000 in 1997 to 18.6 per 100,000 in 2003, a nearly 50% increase for the seven yearperiod. In 2003, Hong Kong suffered from the attack of the epidemic called

Severe Atypical Respiratory Syndrome(commonly known as SARS) causing about 300 deaths and 2000infections, one of the worst hit regions in the world. The economy,unemployment rate and the mental well-being of the communityas a whole were all at their worst situations. Furthermore, theemergence of a new suicide method, namely Charcoal BurningPoisoning suicide had also contributed significantly to the overallincrease in the suicide rate for the period of 1997-2003. However,Since 2003 the suicide rate in Hong Kong has reduced significantlyup until 2008 with an estimated rate in 2008 of 13.1 per 100,000,a nearly 30% reduction between 2003 and 2008. What can welearn from this rapid fluctuation in the suicide rate from 1997 to2008?

As we are in the midst of a global financial tsunami, we are facedwith large increases in the unemployment rate. Does this meanwe will experience yet another rapid increase in the suicide rateagain? Although the causal relationship between unemploymentrates and suicide rates in Asia is stronger than that in Westerncountries, so far no signs have been seen of any immediateincrease of suicide rate associated with the recent economicdownturn in Hong Kong.

In our recent Lancet letter on the need to rethink “suicide preventionin Asian countries”, we highlighted the problems relating toavailability and affordability of psychiatric services in Asia, whichcreates barriers for the community and as a result makes theseservices less relevant in suicide prevention. With no exception,the majority of suicides in Hong Kong did not consult mentalhealth services prior to death. Only about 26%-28% of suicideshad received psychiatric treatment within 12-months before theydied. It has been recognized that improving medical treatment forpatients at risk of suicide is necessary, but not sufficient, to preventsuicide. Our local research suggest that aftercare support fordischarged psychiatric patients, family support, employmentopportunities and community acceptance of discharged mentalhealth patients are crucial. The stigmatization of mental patientsin our community is a major concern and needs to be removedthrough school education and public awareness campaigns. Giventhe scale of the problem, especially with limited resources, acommunity-based approach would be most relevant and mostcost-effective.

During the past few years, our Centre has been advocating avariety of preventive measures, including restricting access tosuicide means, promoting mental health literacy via a 12-sessionschool-based psycho-educational programme based on cognitive- behavioral therapeutic approach, and reac hing out to suicidesurvivors at public mortuaries. The installation of platform screendoors along subway stations has also effectively reduced suicidesamong psychotic patients without any significant sign of substi-tution. As for school-based programmes, a significant improvementof attitudes towards help- seeking behaviours was found among

students in an interventiongroup but more importantly,a larger reduction was found among students with high depressivescores in comparison with the controls after participating in the12-session programme.

In addition, with the support of forensic pathologists, we havereached over 3,000 suicide survivors at public mortuaries in thepast year, offering immediate support and referral services tofamilies in acute grief. About 35% of them agreed to participatein a follow-up study. This innovative study sheds light on developingaccessible services for suicide survivors by front-line helpingprofessionals. We have also participated in some communitybased projects which make use of the resources in the communityto help those in need and vulnerable.

The 30% reduction in the suicide rate from 2003-2008 wasphenomenal and it was due not to luck but to dedicated commitmentand hard work from stakeholders at all fronts in the community.It definitely underscores calls for participation from the widercommunity to tackle the problem of suicide prevention.


PAUL S.F. YIP, DIRECTOR OF CENTRE FOR SUICIDE RESEARCH & PREVENTION, THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG


27–31 OCTOBER 2009The social program

will include a symphonyconcert 28th October at thenewly restored 150 year old

Teatro Solís


Abstract submission closed on 10th April 2009. Veryearly birds registration closed on 31st March 2009.


PAUL S.F. YIP

Please sendany news items,

articles of interest

or conference

announcements for

the monthly news bulletin

to the editor,

Dr Annette Beautrais:

[email protected]

IASP extends warmest congratulations to two IASP

members, Karl Andriessen and Karolina Krysinska, who

were married in Mechelen, Belgium on 3 July 2009.

"Suicidology brought us together"

LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF SUICIDE PREVENTION IN HONG KONG, SAR

SUICIDE RATE HONG KONG

1997

2003

2008

12,5

18,6

13,1*

*estimated



President:

Vice President:

Vice President:

Prof. Brian Mishara



Treasurer:

General Secretary:

National Rep:

Organisational Rep:



Dr Murad Khan

Dr Jerry Reed


O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9

FROM THE PRESIDENT In 1996 the World Health Organization and the United Nations issueda report, Prevention of Suicide: Guidelines for the Formulationand Implementation of National Strategies, calling for the deve-lopment of national strategies to address this global health problem.Of significance was the notion that suicide prevention plans mustcombine investments in scientific research, education and politicalwill. This landmark report was a guiding factor in the creation of thefirst U.S. National Strategy for Suicide Prevention in 2001.

In the United States and elsewhere, most public health problemsaren't adequately addressed, nor mortality reduced, without a vocalconstituency advocating for the required attention and resources. This has been true of breastcancer and HIV/AIDS and it is reasonable to think that the same will be true of suicide prevention.

Fast forward to 2009 and to the announced merger of two leading suicide prevention organizations- the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and the Suicide Prevention ActionNetwork USA (SPAN USA). The merger combines AFSP's research and education expertise withthe public policy and advocacy expertise of SPAN USA, which includes passage of U.S.Congressional resolutions re-cognizing suicide as a national problem and leadership in thepassage of mental health parity legislation.

FFSP's core strength has been its support of scientific research and over the last decade itseducational programs and initiatives to support those at risk for suicide and survivors of suicideloss. AFSP has established a network of 38 chapters to serve states and communities, with adozen more expected by 2011. These chapters, along with AFSP's Out of the Darkness walks,present new opportunities for grassroots advocacy. Five years ago there weren't any walks; thisyear 50,000 people will walk in 190 walks and 250,000 family members and friends will sponsorthem. Generally, walkers have been im-pacted by suicidal behavior or completed suicide andhave decided to get involved. They raise awareness and funds and represent a growing constitu-ency for suicide prevention. As one walker recently expressed it, “we won't allow suicide tocontinue to be ignored.”

An initial goal of the merger is to advance suicide prevention within the current U.S. debateon health reform by advocating for expanded coverage of, and access to, treatment for mentaldisorders, support for mental health checkups across the lifespan and better coordination ofcare for suicide attempt survivors and individuals with mental disorders. The long-term goalis to establish an aggressive policy agenda for suicide prevention at national, state and locallevels.

Suicide is a serious problem in the United States with 33,000 reported deaths and an estimatedone million attempts annually. It's the third leading cause of death for those 15 to 24 years ofage and fourth among those 18 to 65 years of age. Despite these facts, prevention research andprograms suffer from a lack of funding and misconceptions and stigma continue to surroundsuicide. The AFSP/ SPAN USA merger looks to change this by strengthening grassroots advocacyand exerting greater influence on policies and legislation … providing the political will to makesuicide prevention a nationalpriority in the U.S.


As the end of my mandate as President is approaching, I am pleased that I willbe leaving the Board with the organization having a much more active presenceon the world scene. World Suicide Prevention Day activities around the globe havebeen expanding exponentially. If you have not visited the IASP Website recentlyand looked at the photo display of WSPD activities, you are missing a beautifulexample of how suicide prevention in different cultures embodies the spirit andenthusiasm that inspire us to continue our work. Overall, the IASP website hasbeen greatly expanded, it is rising in Google priority, and increasingly, our site isproviding useful information on suicide prevention around the world.

Our journal, CRISIS, will expand by 50% to 6 issues a year in 2010, with minimumadditional costs to members. Several new IASP Task Forces have been added andtask force activities are greatly expanding (again, see the Website). New and revisedWHO Guidelines have been published based upon Task Force work and theseguidelines are now being published jointly by IASP and WHO. The Asia-PacificRegional Conferences have been impressive successes and the IASP World Con-gress in Montevideo at the end of October has participants from 48 countries andexcellent attendance, despite the current economic situation. For the first time wewill have translation in Spanish and English in all plenary and parallel sessions,with translation also into Portuguese in several rooms. The Montevideo congressconstitutes a return to Latin America after many years and I hope that IASP sponsoredevents in the area will become much more frequent. By the end of this year, ourfirst pilot-programme in helping developing countries in suicide prevention trainingwill take place in Uganda, and I am pleased to be involved in this project as a trainer.

One of the most important developments is the establishment of a permanent IASPCentral Office in Oslo, Norway. This office is scheduled to start functioning in early2010 and will ensure the stability of the organization in the years to come VandaScott, who has done an exceptional job of running the Central Office from her homein France, will be coordinating the move. She is working with Kenneth Hemmerick,who designs and is webmaster for IASP's site, to establish an electronic archiveand database in a sort of virtual office to be accessible by Central Office and IASPofficers.

Still, there are many challenges ahead. We are looking for a venue for the 2012Asia-Pacific Regional Congress (if you are interested, please let us know). We mustalso develop new mechanisms for handling the increasingly complex requests anddemands upon the organization. Our relationship with the World Health Organizationand collaboration in future projects, where we are the only organization involvedin suicide prevention who is in official relations, will need to be clarified with changesin WHO mental health division staff. Also at WHO, although suicidal behavioursare named as one of the major causes of injury worldwide, the injury preventiondivision of WHO and the International Violence Prevention Alliance have chosento focus on other-directed violent behaviors and pretty much ignore the relationshipbetween suicide and other violent acts and their common risk factors. Suicide andsuicide attempts are still illegal in many countries and I hope that IASP will becomemore involved in promoting decriminalization of suicide worldwide.

Suicide still remains a major cause of premature death around the world and thereis much more that needs to be done. I am pleased to have been involved on theIASP Board and appreciate the opportunity to have worked with so many wonderfuldedicated people in the field. I look forward to continuing those relationships inthe future and I am confident that the new IASP Board will meet the many challengesand will develop new and exciting activities in preventing suicide worldwide.I am looking forward to seeing you in Montevideo.

Contributions for the news bulletin are welcomed from other

organizations. Please send any contributions to Dr Jerry Reed or contact

him for advice about preparing your report. [email protected]

The American Foundation for SuicidePrevention: Working to Create Political Will

Bob GebbiaExecutive Director,AFSP


newsbu l l e t i n

WSPD 2009 was observed in more than 40 countries with morethan 100 educational and commemorative events, press briefingsand public conferences, while Internet, Facebook (IASP has morethan 700 fans!) and Twitter coverage ensured millions of peoplearound the world were linked to WSPD activities on September 10th.

WSPD was launched at the United Nations in New York with a PressConference for international journalists, and a three-hour publicconference which addressed the theme “Suicide Prevention inDifferent Cultures”. The American Foundation for SuicidePrevention, the JED foundation, Lifeline and other groups joinedwith IASP in publicizing the event and a record crowd overflowedthe UN conference room. People came to the conference not onlyfrom New York but from across the US. The person who made thelongest journey to the UN Launch was Professor Chi-Yun Lin,Professor at the Institute of Life and Death Education and Counselingin the Taipei College of Nursing, and Director of Taiwan Associationfor Caring and Counseling for Loss.

An amazing range of activities was undertaken to mark WSPD 2009.These are listed on the IASP website and provide exciting evidenceof the rapid diffusion of the WSPD concept, and inspirational ideasfor events in future years. Events on the theme of Suicide Preventionin Different Ccultures were held from the Vatican to Vanuatu,from Bangladesh to Belgium, and from China to the Cook Islands.We encourage you to read about these activities atwww.iasp.info/wspd, view the photo archive of events in differentcountries and submit any photos of your own to us(to [email protected])

This year IASP launched a new event, Light a Candle for SuicidePrevention at 8PM, designed to enable people to meaningfullyparticipate in, and support, WSPD even if there were no localactivities. We received many comments from people who thoughtthis was a wonderful idea.



27–31 OCTOBER 2009The social program

will include a symphonyconcert 28th October at thenewly restored 150 year old

Teatro Solís


Abstract submission closed on 10th April 2009. Veryearly birds registration closed on 31st March 2009.


WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY 2009

IASP CONGRESS MONTEVIDEOFriday 16th October is the deadline forpayments at the Secretariat of pre-registrations and hotel bookings, as wellas pre-bookings for transfers and theCongress concert. After that date, regi-strations will be resumed on Tuesday27th October at the Radisson Hotel at"On Site" costs. You will also be able tobuy Concert tickets on site.The shuttle airport transfer cost:US$ 20 - to be booked in advance.

IASP 2009 CONGRESS SECRETARIATPh. +598.2.9160900 / Fax +598.2.9168902Email: [email protected]

Joanne Harpel (AFSP), Dr Annette Beautrais (IASP) and Professor Chi-YunLin of Taiwan at the United Nations New York Launch of WSPD 2009

Kenneth Hemmerick IASP Webmaster

Kenneth Hemmerick is the IASP webmaster andresponsible for recent changes to the IASP websitewww.iasp.info

If you have not visited the website recently pleasedo so – Kenneth has worked to update the siteand added a large amount of very useful infor-mation. In addition, Kenneth worked tiredlesslyand with great enthusiasm and imagination topublicize World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD)in 2009, adding lists of activities and photo archi-ves to the website, and generating press, Facebookand Twitter publicity for both IASP and WSPD2009. The IASP website has benefited greatly fromKenneth’s artistic talents – he graduated withdistinction in Interdisciplinary Studies (Fine Arts)from Concordia University. To date, he has had27 solo, juried and group shows in Canada, theU.S., Argentina and South Korea. He has writtenmusic for six award- winning films and his videoproductions. In addition, he has had exhibitionsof his videos in Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Hisworks are owned by collectors in the U.S. Canadaand the UK. In 1998, he created Suicide PreventionHelp (www.suicidepreventionhelp.com), in the daysbefore Google, as he was concerned that there werewebsites encouraging people to commit suicide.He serves as a consultant, designer and Webmas-ter to the IASP in the development of their website.

On September 10th

World SuicidePrevention Day

Light a candle neara window at 8 PM

to show your supportfor suicide prevention

to remember a lost loved one

and for the survivorsof suicide.

The International Association for Suicide Prevention Invites you toLight a Candle at 8 PM

World Suicide Prevention Day www.iasp.info

WSPD Switzerland WSPD Fiji WSPD India



President: Dr Lanny Berman

1st Vice President: Professor Heidi Hjelmeland

2nd Vice President: Professor Paul Yip

3rd Vice President: Dr Ella Arensman


D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9

Treasurer: Professor Michael Philips

General Secretary: Vanda Scott

National Rep: Dr Murad Khan

Organisational Rep: Dr Jerry Reed

FROM THE PRESIDENT

During the XXV IASP World Congress held in Montevideo, Uruguayin October the members of the Council of OrganizationalRepresentatives took the opportunity to get together and share theirideas and experiences and hold an excellent and productive exchangeon new initiatives and programmes.

Following the formal reports on the Council's affairs and activities in the past two years,constructive discussion and creative ideas covered a range of topics:

• Ways to increase membership and activate existing members of the Council;

• Working with both individuals and groups to establish a stronger presence for suicide prevention in interested countries;

• Strategies to enhance activities around the globe during IASP's World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th each year.

Suggestions were also offered on how organizational members, in liaison with National

Representatives, could advance IASP's work in their respective countries

• By identifying organizations engaged in suicide prevention,• Inviting them to become members of IASP;• Ensuring that in all congresses and regular newsletters the contributions of organizational

members were promoted.

The Council nominated me to serve as Chair for an additional two year term and keenlynominated Joy Field from the Samaritans UK to serve as my Deputy Chair. We confirmed ourcommitment to the attending representatives and later to membership at the General Assembly.

The Council heard from guests from Brazil and Jamaica requesting information on membershipand IASP in advancing their efforts in suicide prevention in their respective nations. A specialmeeting of interested delegates from Brazil was then organized to explore options for developmentof this theme.

The Council expressed their appreciation to outgoing members of the Executive Board, ThomasBronisch, Kees Van Heeringen and Annette Beautrais, for their service to the organization andspecifically gratitude was fully extended to Brian Mishara, the retiring president for his dedicationover the past 4 years in actively promoting and developing the work of IASP, worldwide

Any organization interested in membership or contributing to the IASP news bulletin shouldcontact Chair of the Council of Organizational Representatives Dr. Jerry Reed [email protected] for more information.

Jerry Reed, Ph.D., MSW

It is a great honor for me to have the opportunity to serve IASP as president.I have been a Suicidologist for almost 40 years and, for the last 15, have had theprivilege of directing the American Association of Suicidology. From theseperspectives I can attest that it is no small task to meet the needs of a diversemembership, no less establish collaborations among individuals and organizationswith diverse interests and constituencies. Attempting this on an international scaleis challenging.

My prior tenures on IASP's executive, two terms as vice president and one astreasurer, have made me well aware of the relatively limited degrees of freedomposed by a too small budget and the considerable range of potential roadblocksposed by our global reach. My focus as president, however, will not be on barriers,but on opportunities - to implement the organization's strategic plan, to improvethe organization's financial health, to build pathways toward collaborations, andto create initiatives that will strengthen IASP and support global suicide preventionefforts.

The possibility of our accomplishing these objectives is emboldened by anextraordinary group of dedicated board members who have committed their energiesto these tasks. The Chairs of the National and Organizational Representatives,Murad Khan and Jerry Reed, respectively, have accepted the task of developingand proposing new membership initiatives; Treasurer Michael Phillips will bereviewing and potentially recommending changes to our existing contracts; vicepresident Ella Arensman has accepted responsibility to develop and strengthen acollaboration with Mental Health Europe; and each and every board member --those already mentioned in addition to vice presidents Heidi Hjelmeland andPaul Yip - soon will be presenting case statements for potential new initiatives forthe organization.

We have already begun exploring the possibility of developing new regionalconferences, the first of which we hope to have in the Caribbean region perhapswithin the next year; and I have already been asked to participate on a WHO“Guideline Development Committee” that will be developing a framework fornational policies on suicide prevention. These initiatives are over and above existingboard management responsibilities that include World Suicide Prevention Day,our various Task Forces, the 2010 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Brisbaneand the 2011 World Congress in Beijing, our training programs, journal, newsbulletin, etc.

That we have hit the ground running is surely an understatement. The ease of ourtransition from the previous to the current board could not have been possiblewithout the advice and counsel from our immediate past president Brian Misharaand the archived knowledge and reservoir of support offered by our developmentconsultant Vanda Scott, who, in addition, has agreed to serve as our interim generalsecretary until the current election process to fill this vacant board position hasbeen completed. Moreover, Vanda will ensure a successful transition to our newoffice in Oslo early in 2010.

IASP will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010. Our successes should not bemeasured in retrospect, but in our potential to tap our greatest strength - ourmembership and the intellectual resources you can offer. I invite your input to andyour interest in becoming an active part of what we are yet to become.

I would like to use this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and aHappy New Year.

Lanny Berman, Ph.D., ABPP

IASP Council of OrganizationalRepresentatives meets in Montevideo,Uruguay


newsbu l l e t i n

During the XXV IASP WorldCongress held in Montevideo,Uruguay in October a meetingof the National Representativeswas held and 15 countries wererepresented in the meeting.

A report of the Council's affairs over the last two yearswas presented, followed by the President's report, high-lighting the following areas:

• Need to make suicide prevention more visible at a globallevel.

• Promote suicide prevention through use of website, organize activities around the World Suicide PreventionDay (WSPD) and through WHO's new mental health initiative - Mental Health Gap (mh-GAP) which has several goals concerning suicide prevention.

• Systematic knowledge transfer providing knowledge and experience at global level

A general discussion took place and a number of usefulsuggestions were made:• Increase in the membership of IASP• Help national representatives develop national suicide

prevention associations/Networks• Use of newsletter to share/disseminate information on

suicide prevention activities in respective countries

Brief presentations on suicide prevention were made bya number of national representatives. Members found thisa useful exercise as it helped them learn how other countrieshave developed suicide prevention programs in theircountries.

Selection of the venue for 2013 IASP Congress was held.Of the three venues (Oslo, Montreal and Rome), Oslo inNorway was chosen by an overwhelming majority.Elections for the Chair and Deputy Chair were held.Dr. Murad Khan from Pakistan and Dr. Jane Pirkis fromAustralia were elected as chair and deputy chair for thenext two years. Both thanked the members and expressedtheir commitment to work towards the IASP objectives.The council also heard from some delegates of Brazilabout the lack of any co-ordinated activity in suicide pre-vention in their country. A separate meeting was later heldwith a group of Brazilian delegates to explore ways howthis could be best addressed. Useful suggestions werenoted and we plan to follow this up through the nationalrepresentative for Brazil.

The council expressed its thanks to the outgoing Boardand particularly the President Dr. Brian Mishara for hisdedication, commitment and hard work over the last fouryears in promoting the cause of suicide prevention throughIASP.

Any person interested in becoming an IASP member cancontact the national representative or chair Dr. MuradKhan at [email protected] for more information.

Dr Murad M Khan

RECIPIENTS OF IASP AWARDS AT THEXXV IASP CONFERENCE IN MONTEVIDEOStengel Research AwardAt the XXV IASP Conference in Montevideo, Professor Mark Williams was awardedthe Stengel Research Award. Mark Williams is Professor of Clinical Psychology andWellcome Principal Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. He holds a joint appoin-tment in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Experimental Psychology.He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Academy of Medical Sciencesand the British Academy.

His research is concerned with understanding the processes that increase risk of suicidalbehaviour in serious and recurrent depression. With colleagues John Teasdale (Cambridge) and Zindel Segal (Toronto)he developed Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for prevention of recurrence, and two trials have found thatMBCT halves the risk of relapse in those who have suffered three or more previous episodes of major depression.

His books include The Psychological Treatment of Depression (Routledge, 1984, 1992), Cognitive Psychology andEmotional Disorders (Wiley, 1988, 1997), Cry of Pain: understanding suicide and self harm (Penguin, 1997, 2002) andMindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A new approach to preventing relapse (Guilford, 2002). His mostrecent book, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (Guilford, 2007; withJohn Teasdale, Zindel Segal and Jon Kabat-Zinn) is written for a lay-readership.

Farberow AwardAt the XXV IASP Conference in Montevideo, Dr Frank Campbell was the recipient of theFarberow Award. Frank Campbell, PhD, LCSW, is the former Executive Director of theBaton Rouge Crisis intervention Center and the Crisis Center Foundation in Louisiana, USA.He is currently Senior Consultant for Campbell and Associates Consulting where heconsults with communities and on Forensic Suicidology cases.

He introduced his Active Postvention Model (APM) most commonly known as the LOSSTeam (Local Outreach to Survivors of Suicide). The APM concept involves a team of firstresponders who go to the scene of a suicide and provide support and referral for those bereaved by the suicide. Themain objective is to shorten the elapsed time between the death and survivors finding the help they feel will help themcope with this devastating loss. The APM has shown to have a positive impact on both the team members as well asthe newly bereaved. The model has now been replicated in countries as diverse as Australia, Singapore, Northern Ireland,Canada and America.

Campbell has also been selected to receive the Louis Dublin award at the 2010 American Association of SuicidologyConference. Dr. Campbell is a past president of the AAS and has received the Roger J. Tierney award for service. Hewas Social Worker of the year in Louisiana and the first John W. Barton Fellow selected in his hometown of Baton Rouge,Louisiana, USA. To learn more about his work in the field of suicidology you can visit www.lossteam.com

De Leo Fund AwardFor the first time, IASP awarded the De Leo Fund award. The De Leo Fund Award honoursthe memory of Nicola and Vittorio, the beloved children of Professor Diego De Leo, IASPPast President. The Award is offered to distinguished scholars in recognition of their out-standing research on suicidal behaviours carried out in developing countries.

The first recipient of the De Leo Fund Award is Alireza Ahmadi, MD. Dr Ahmadi has abackground in anaesthesiology from the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences(KUMS) in Iran. He has worked in the area of injury prevention, especially in prevention ofself-immolation (deliberate self-inflected burns) and has published a number of articles in peer review journals.Dr Ahmadi is principal investigator of numerous clinical studies and has been involved in the study of novel methodsfor prevention of self-immolation such as "victim stories". Since 2006, he has been Board Director Member of theInternational Society of Violence and Injury Prevention (ISVIP), and since 2008 he is Adjunct researcher of the SafetyPromotion and Injury Prevention research group at the Division of Social Medicine of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm,Sweden. Dr Ahmadi is also Chair of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention (ISCAIP), andDeputy Editor and founder of the Journal of Injury and Violence Research (JIVR).

IASP Council of NationalRepresentatives meets inMontevideo, Uruguay


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American Association of Suicidology (AAS)

THEMEMany countries across the world have been affected by the economic recessionthat started in 2008 and which has not yet reached its end. What are theimplications for suicidal behaviour and its prevention?According to Gunnell et al (2009) and Stuckler et al (2009), the consequencesin terms of an expected increase in suicide may be serious and they underlinethe need for preventative action. In addition to an increase in suicide, there arealso indications of an increase in deliberate self harm. For example, in Ireland,where the economic recession occurred very rapidly in 2008, data from theNational Registry of Deliberate Self Harm showed a 6% increase in deliberateself harm from the previous year, with a stronger increase of self harm in men(10%) compared to women (2%) (NSRF, 2009). This increase is further validatedby the finding that in 2008 a significant increase was observed in attemptedhanging which is a highly lethal self harm method. Since we know that in mendeliberate self harm is more strongly associated with suicide than in women,the suicide rates in Irish men may increase.

Gunnell et al present convincing evidence that increased unemployment whichis one the main consequences of the current economic recession is associatedwith increased prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation as well as suiciderisk. This effect has been found among both people with and without mentalhealth problems and in different countries worldwide. Based on employmentand mortality data from 26 European countries between 1970 and 2007, Stuckleret al found that a 3% increase of unemployment had a greater effect on suicidesamong people aged younger than 65 years. Gunnell et al also point at theimplications of financial difficulties which are likely to follow from the currentrecession. As a consequence of the stress related to job insecurity, people maydevelop mental health problems. However, those currently most in need ofmental health services may not have the financial resources to access them.

Furthermore, due to cutbacks in mental health services, as for example inIreland, increased demands on these services cannot be dealt with efficiently,which may further contribute to increased suicidal behaviour. In terms of suicideprevention this clearly represents a paradoxical situation.

In order to mitigate the negative consequences of the recession, both Gunnellet al and Stuckler et al recommend active labour market programmes that keepand reintegrate workers in jobs. Gunnell et al also recommend additionalinterventions, such as increasing the employers' awareness of the impact ofredundancy on the employees' mental health and suicide risk, and resourcingcommunity health agencies to support people who are facing problems relatedto job loss and debt. In terms of the media, it is recommended to work closelywith the media in order to prevent simplistic and high profile reporting ofsuicides by business executives and unemployed people in order to preventcopycat suicides.

ReferencesGunnell D, Platt S, Hawton K. The economic crisis and suicide. Consequences may beserious and warrant early attention. BMJ 2009; 338:1456-7. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b1891.

National Suicide Research Foundation. National Registry of Deliberate Self Harm AnnualReport 2008. 2009; National Suicide Research Foundation, Cork, Ireland. www.nsrf.ie

Stuckler D, Basu S, Suhrcke M, Coutts A, McKee M. The public health effect of economiccrises and alternative policy responses in Europe: an empirical analysis. Lancet2009;374(9686):315-23. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61124-7.

Ella Arensman

The Economic Recession and Suicidal Behaviour

43rd American Associationof Suicidology Annual ConferenceFamilies, Community Systemsand SuicideApril 21st - 24th, 2010

Submission of Abstracts for Parallel Sessions: DEADLINE OF SUB-MISSION: February 10, 2010; Submission of Proposals for ParallelSymposia, Courses and Workshop: DEADLINE OF SUBMISSION:March 26, 2010. For further information, see www.esssb13.org

4th Asia Pacific Regional Conference of theInternational Association for Suicide Prevention17th-20th November, 2010The 4th Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the InternationalAssociation for Suicide Prevention (IASP) is to be jointlyhosted by Suicide Prevention Australia (SPA) andThe Australian Institute for Suicide Research andPrevention (AISRAP). For further information, seewww.suicideprevention2010brisbane.org

CONFERENCES and SYMPOSIUM ANNOUNCEMENTS

XXVI IASPWorld Congress21-24 September2011Beijing, China

IASP FACEBOOKCurrently 934 Fans are registered with theIASP Facebook Fans to date, which is agreat achievement! However, moving into2010, our 50th anniversary year, we hopeto achieve the number of 1,000, so pleaseregister!

IASP Facebook Fan Pagehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Association-for-Suicide-Prevention/115204064521

For further information, see www.suicidology.org

iasp newsletters 2009

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