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Suicide Research

Findings: Suicidal Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviours

Have you ever felt your life wasn't worth living?

Comments

The majority (58%) of respondents had, at some point, felt that their life was not worth living. We do not know how this compares with the general population.

If yes, how old were you when you first felt that way?

Comments

As you can see from the graph above, there is a sharp rise in the number of people who first felt that their life was not worth living at age 14. This continues to the age of 17, suggesting that these may be periods of particular distress for young gay and bisexual men.

If yes, how old were you when you last felt that way?

Comments

The graph for when people last felt their life was not worth living is more evenly distributed, suggesting that there is a sharp rise in the number of people who feel their life is not worth living from age 14, and that these feelings can continue for a number of years in some individuals. Bearing in mind that the age of some of our respondents was lower than 26, we checked to see how many respondents had felt suicidal within the last year (comparing their current age to the age at which they had last felt suicidal). 37 respondents (39% of total respondents) had felt their life was not worth living within the last year. This compares to 3.9% of the general population who considered suicide in the past year (National Statistics 2002).

How long did you feel this way for?

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58% of respondents had at some point felt that their life was not worth living. When this was examined in more detail it emerged that 23% of total respondents had spent up to one year feeling that their lives were not worth living while 27% of total respondents had spent three or more years feeling that their lives were not worth living.

The graph overleaf shows each of the 55 respondents who had felt their life was not worth living, the age at which they first had these feelings, the age at which they last had these feelings and their age now.

We noted a general pattern that the earlier the feelings began the longer the period of feeling life was not worth living lasted.

Have you ever deliberately injured yourself without wanting to take your own life?

Comments

28% of young gay/bisexual men have deliberately injured themselves without wanting to take their own life. 81% of the respondents who deliberately injured themselves had at some point felt their life was not worth living (23% of total respondents).

2% of men in the general population have deliberately harmed themselves without suicidal intent (Office for National Statistics 2002), although this was higher amongst the younger men sampled (up to 5% of the youngest age group).

Young gay and bisexual men are therefore 14 times more likely to deliberately injure themselves than men in the general population, and 5.6 times more likely to deliberately injure themselves than young men in the general population.

Comments

54% of respondents had seriously considered taking their life at some point, the majority of whom (88%) had previously felt that their life wasn’t worth living. This compares to 13% of men in the general population who have ever considered suicide (Office for National Statistics 2002).

Young gay and bisexual men are therefore 4.1 times more likely to have seriously considered suicide than the general population.

23% of the respondents who had never seriously considered taking their own life had previously felt their life was not worth living.

At the worst period, how often did you consider taking your own life?

Other responses

“3 times in 5 years”
“When I fell out with someone”
“Once when bad stuff happened”
“Once”
“When boyfriend left me”
“There have been 3 times in total”
“When I was twelve”
“Three times seriously”
“For a period of approximately six months”
“Once a year”
“Every now and then”
“Whenever I felt stressed out”
“Once only”
“Once a year maybe”

Comments

A significant proportion of respondents seriously considered taking their life every day during the worst period.

How often do you consider taking your own life now?

Other responses

“Whenever feeling really low”
“ Occasionally”
“ Once”
“ Last time was two days ago”
“ Infrequently”
“ Every six months”
“ Every now and then”
“ Not very often – a couple of times”
“ Whenever I felt stressed out”
“ Once a year maybe”

Comments

51% of respondents who had previously seriously considered taking their own life now no longer considered suicide (27% of total respondents). However, 15% of total respondents still seriously considered suicide at least once a month, and 39% of total respondents had felt their life was not worth living in the last year. 10% of total respondents still seriously considered suicide on an occasional, infrequent basis.

What were your reasons for wanting to take your own life?

“Just very depressed”

“Sexual abuse. Fear of being gay.”

“Thought no-one would want to know me, everyone would disown me.”

“Nobody could accept me.”

“Lack of understanding.”

“Bullying at school”

“More freedom”

“Life was going wrong. Some of my friends weren’t being good friends when I needed it.”

“Things and problems were causing so much stress I couldn’t bear it much longer.”

“Don’t know.”

“Mother committed suicide. Nothing to do with sexuality.”

“Couldn’t handle my parents.”

“I was gay.”

“Police.”

“I felt like shit.”

“Boredom, loneliness – everyone just wants sex – unsupportive environment.”

“Various – work, money, family troubles.”

“I felt isolated and alone – depressed.”

“Boyfriend I loved left me.”

“Bullying at school of effeminacy.”

“Bullying.”

“Depressed. Loved someone who didn’t love me.”

“I could not find a single rational reason for living (most recently). Before then was because I wanted to hurt others as much as I had been hurt.”

“I was sexually abused as a child, my nephew was killed on Xmas eve. I was raped when I was 16. No family. My closest family member died last year.”

“Split with first love.”

”Coming out issues – hateful parent.”

“Medical illness and sexuality and parental denial.”

“Depression, teenage angst.”

“Guilt over sexuality to parents.”

“Felt too stressed and couldn’t cope.”

”Attention, not because I was gay.”

”Stress, pressure, feeling ‘odd’ and not normal.”

“I get more and more depressed until I end up hating myself and my life and well everything.”

“Family, job, sexuality, looks, body.”

“Feeling bad about myself, looks etc. General gay scene stuff.”

“Best friend died – couldn’t cope. Gran died: very close to both.”

”Friend pressures.”

“Failure at university.”

“Mental illness.”

“Sense of isolation and indifferent hostility.”

”Self-loathing.”

“Relationship trouble.”

“Career, homelife, work.”

“Did not feel normal, as all my friends wanted women and I did not.”

“Loneliness, isolation, feeling I didn’t belong, could never be open, denial about being gay. Internal pain.”

“Childhood trauma.”

“Depression and ……………?”

“Depression, hassle of relationships, being single.”

“Involved with too many guys and couldn’t cope with anything.”

”Ex-boyfriends - not very nice.”

Comments

Comments above are printed exactly as they were written.

There are a number of main themes which emerge from the reasons why people wanted to take their own life.

The figures below are taken from issues specifically mentioned by respondents.

Sexual orientation was mentioned by eight respondents
Depression was mentioned by seven respondents
Relationship difficulties were mentioned by seven respondents
Difficulties with family were mentioned by five respondents
Bereavement was mentioned by four respondents
Problems with work, study or finances were mentioned by four respondents
Isolation or loneliness was mentioned by four respondents
Lack of acceptance was mentioned by three respondents
Bullying was mentioned by three respondents
Sexual abuse was mentioned by two respondents
Problems with personal appearance were mentioned by two respondents

There are a number of key issues which require further investigation to establish links with possible suicidal feelings.

Have you ever made a deliberate attempt to end your life?

Yes 26%
No 69%

Comments

27% of respondents had attempted suicide. 54% of respondents who had attempted suicide had at some point deliberately injured themselves without wanting to take their own life.

48% of respondents who had not attempted suicide had never felt that life wasn’t worth living and never seriously considered taking their own life. 45% of respondents who had never attempted suicide had at some point felt their life was not worth living.

27% of young gay/bisexual men have attempted suicide compared to 4% of the general population (Office for National Statistics 2002). Young gay and bisexual men are therefore 6.7 times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population.

How old were you when you first tried to end your life? / how old were you when you last tried to end your life?

Again, there was a sharp increase in first suicide attempts at age 14, which mirrors the increase found for when respondents had first felt their life was not worth living. First attempts were most common in the 14 to 20 age group.

How many times have you made a deliberate attempt to end your life?

Comments

The majority of respondents who attempted suicide made only one attempt (58%). 35% made three or more attempts. 23% of those who attempted suicide made five or more attempts.

How did you attempt to end your life?

Comments

Chemical overdose was the main method used by respondents to attempt to end their life, followed by cutting.

If you have had suicidal feelings, who did you talk to about them, and how helpful were they?

Chart 1 – those who had made a deliberate attempt to end their life

Chart 2 – those who had not made a deliberate attempt to end their life but had seriously considered

Comments

Those respondents who had made a deliberate attempt to end their life seemed to find very little helpful, although they had approached numerous sources of professional support. In comparison, those who had seriously considered suicide but had not gone on to attempt seemed to find more helpful support, particularly from friends, family, colleagues and Switchboard.

23% of respondents who had attempted suicide had sought help from no-one regarding their distress.

8% of respondents were unclear whether they had sought any particular help.

69% of respondents had spoken to some-one about their suicidal feelings.

31% of respondents who had attempted suicide had seen a specialist medical service, such as a psychiatrist or counsellor (compared to 30% of the general population) and 65% had spoken to friends or family (compared to 25% of the general population.

Last updated 14th July 2004

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