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Irish Independent: Why connecting with people at Christmas is so important for our mental health
Julia Molony writes for the Irish Independent about the pervading, and false, factoid that suicides rates are highest around Christmas. She explores why the opposite is in fact true, and where the connection lies.
Read a brief section below, and read the article in full on the Irish Independent website here.
The truth, though, is the opposite. Statistically, fewer people take their lives at Christmas than at any other time of the year.
In fact, clinical psychologist Martin Ploderl, of the University of Salzburg, who has researched the seasonal patterns of suicide, has suggested this might be due to an increase in social contact around Christmas, which is known to be a protective factor for suicide.
Suicide rates, as the American columnist David Brooks has said, are “a proxy for loneliness”.
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