Nation put on suicide watch with deaths expected to surge
With a looming economic down-turn, modelling suggests suicide rates could increase by 50% in the next five years
“Recessions always kill the most vulnerable.”
This is the stark warning issued by one of the country’s leading psychiatrists as Australia surges into the deepest economic down-turn in generations.
Former mental health tzar Professor Ian Hickie says unless the country acts soon, many lives will be lost — not from the current coronavirus pandemic, but from a suicide epidemic.
In a worst-case scenario, the unemployment rate will peak at 16% and suicide rates could increase by 50% over the next five years, Professor Hickie says.
