Comparative Analysis of Suicide in Japan and the UK - Essay Example

TEXT ACCOMPANYING THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION D “COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUICIDE IN JAPAN AND UK” Date Text accompanying the PowerPoint presentation titled Comparative analysis of Suicide in Japan and UK Slide 1: Examination of suicide nationally and globally Suicide is a major setback in the healthcare caused by self-inflicted injuries. According to the WHO, suicide is reported to cause approximately a million deaths a year (Who.int, 2014). Remarkably, almost every person who commits suicide has a diagnosable mental disorder. Most of the victims committing suicide have a psychiatric illness; hence, the approach that a country implements to deal with suicides determines the success of reducing suicide deaths. In the UK, men are more susceptible to suicide because of possible negative life experiences such as alcoholism and clinical depression. Suicide causes national mortality rates to increase, which further portray a poor healthcare system. Additionally, one suicide may affect a number of family relative reducing the productivity of citizens in a nation. It is the responsibility of a nation to ensure that it keeps pace with the increasing demand for mental healthcare. A national healthcare strategy is critical to the reduction of suicide case in a nation. On the international perspective, suicide is ranked among the top three death causes. WHO indicates that suicide is primarily caused by depression, which is a worldwide illness necessitating various nations to increase healthcare for mentally unstable individuals. Slide 2: Suicide Inequalities in Healthcare The increase in suicide cases is linked unequal healthcare provision for the individuals with severe mental illness. It is the unequal health provision that explains the high mortality of suicidal cases inn men in the UK. Suicide is more common to the low socio economic class, which means that there is likelihood that the patients will not be able to access effective medical attention due to socio-economic inequalities as well as discrimination in the healthcare. Budget allocation to preventing and addressing suicide is also another healthcare inequality. Reluctance in intervening in conditions that promote suicide in both the UK and Japan increase the number of suicide cases. However, economic recession in Japan led to a decrease in the healthcare regardless of the socioeconomic status further leaving the mentally ill susceptible to committing suicide. Similarly, in Japan, despite its achievements in the healthcare, comparatively less has been done to address mental illness. Slide 3: Reasons behind Suicide Inequalities in Healthcare The reason behind unequal healthcare provision for suicidal cases is because of the perception associated with suicide. It is close to impossible to determine when an individual is to commit a suicide despite having mental illness (Lawrence and Kisely, 2010). However, the healthcare does not perceive suicide to preventable from a healthcare approach, but only from a psychological perspective; hence, leaving potential avoidable deaths to happen. Additionally, suicide is attributed to other factors such as life experience, relationships, lifestyle, employment, and genetics, which the healthcare feel it can do very little to ensure such factors lead to death (Nhs.uk, 2014). The lack of understanding the high-risk for suicide is another reason behind the provision of inadequate mental healthcare. Slide 4: Cultural suicide prevention approach in Japan According to Wilson (2011), suicide in Japan is associated to the history of the country and the culture of is people. Consequently, one of its main approaches towards suicide is through cultural prevention strategies, which involve various generic and pragmatic issues. However, the approach focus on the possible causes of the high numbers of suicidal behaviors in Japan, but does not seek the treatment of possible mental illness. Additionally, cultural prevention practices such as the use of focus groups do not in any way promote the intervention of the medical services to ensure that mental illness are diagnosed at early stages . In contrary, the UK focuses on increasing the mental illness specialists to ensure that the rate of suicide is reduced. Slide 6: Parallel programmes designed to address alcohol and substance-use disorders The use of parallel programmes focus on addressing alcohol and substance-use disorders is another approach that Japan has embraced to minimize suicide cases (Brent and Mann, 2006). However, the approach would be more effective if it integrated addressing social inequality and social discrimination. Additionally, adequate psychiatrics are provided by the healthcare to ensure that mental needs for the victims are addressed. The programs also recognize that urban regions report more cases of suicide compared to other regions (Qin, 2005) Slide 7: Barriers / possibilities of the approaches in relation to local healthcare provision Despite that cultural suicide prevention approach may seem to work in Japan, there is possible a barrier of the approach in the UK (Holland and Hogg, 2010). The barriers is that UK is focused in detection of psychiatric disorders irrespective culture given that there is no history that reveals culture to play a part of suicide cases. There is a possibility that the UK can embrace the use of parallel program as applied in Japan as per the local healthcare provision. However, the approach only addresses a part of the problem given that alcohol and substance-use disorders contribute a substantial low percentage in the suicide cases in the UK (Manchester.ac.uk, 2014). Slide 8: Recommendations to reduce Suicide cases Various interventions exist to ensure that suicide cases are reduced. The first recommendation is the integration of both medical and psychological approach, which would ensure that the client receives both mental and medical care (SHER, 2004). Another recommendation to reduce suicide is the use of the media to provide counseling sessions to the depressed over various issues and give them a chance to seek voluntarily personalized assistance from medical centres. Finally, the healthcare need to increase funding to research aimed to study suicidal behaviors that will help the mental illness specialist detect and treat an individual in timely manner. Reference List Brent, D. and Mann, J., 2006. Familial pathways to suicidal behavior—understanding and preventing suicide among adolescents. New England Journal of Medicine, 355(26), pp.2719-2721. Holland, K. and Hogg, C., 2010. Cultural awareness in nursing and health care. 1st ed. London: Hodder Arnold. Lawrence, D. and Kisely, S., 2010. Review: Inequalities in healthcare provision for people with severe mental illness. Journal of psychopharmacology, 24(4 suppl), 61-68. Manchester.ac.uk, 2014. Improved safety measures by mental health services help to reduce suicide rates | The University of Manchester. [online] Manchester.ac.uk. Available at: [Accessed 5 Oct. 2014]. Mentalhealth.org.uk, 2014. Suicide. [online] Mentalhealth.org.uk. Available at: [Accessed 4 Oct. 2014]. Nhs.uk, 2014. Suicide - Causes - NHS Choices. [online] Nhs.uk. Available at: [Accessed 4 Oct. 2014]. Qin, P., 2005. Suicide risk in relation to level of urbanity a population-based linkage study. International journal of epidemiology, 34(4), pp.846-852. SHER, L., 2004. Preventing suicide. QJM International Journal of Medicine, 97, pp.677–680. Who.int, 2014. WHO | Depression. [online] Who.int. Available at: [Accessed 5 Oct. 2014]. Wilson, M., 2011. Suicide: A Unique Epidemic in Japan. Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal, 7. Read More