Why raise awareness

According to the June 2006 report from the Health Council of Canada entitled Their Future Is Now: Health Choices for Canada's Children & Youth:

• Teens and young adults are more likely than any other group to suffer from mental disorders. However, they are the least inclined to seek help for their problems. In 2002, over 6% of teens and young adults had had major bouts of depression the previous year; 6% reported having thoughts of suicide and 5% had social anxiety disorder. (Canadian Community Health Survey, 2002, Statistics Canada. Catalogue number 82-617. Tables 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8.)

Studies show that 80% to 90% of people who committed suicide suffered from mental illness, often from depression. (Brent, Shaffer et Marttunen, Le suicide chez les jeunes : S.O.S jeunes en détresse; Conseil permanent de la jeunesse. p. 28.)

According to Dr. Rémi Quirion, scientific director of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research: “Of the many mental disorders associated with suicidal behaviour, depression is the most common. Two-thirds of those who die as a result of suicide have some form of depression.” (Getting Serious About Suicide Prevention, interview from September 5, 2006, www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/f/32133.html)

Suicide is one of the main causes of death among young people in Quebec, particularly among boys. According to 2004 data from the Institut de la statistique du Québec, four out of five 15- to 24-year-olds who commit suicide are male.

Suicide accounts for 24% of deaths among people aged 15 to 24. The mortality rate attributable to suicide among men is four times higher than among women. While women exhibit suicidal behaviour as much as men, men express their despair through lethal acts, while women are more likely to choose less lethal acts. Women are hospitalized in general hospitals for suicide attempts 1.5 times more than men. (Health Canada, A Report on Mental Illnesses in Canada, 2002, p. 91.)

We know that only 37% of people who suffer from mental health disorders have turned to a resource. Teens and young adults are the least likely to use resources, in spite of the strong prevalence of these disorders among them. (Statistics Canada, 2003)

Given the alarming number of suicides among young people in Quebec and the fact that depression is a leading cause of suicide, the Mental Illness Foundation has taken on the challenge of raising awareness of this problem among young people.