The Male Depression and Suicide Epidemic

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The Male Depression and Suicide Epidemic:Is Soy Lowering Testosterone? By Nicola Molloy http://www.angelfire.com/nm2/nmolloy/suicide.htmlWhy don’t people know about the epidemic of male suicides? The high suicide rate in New Zealand, especially the predominance of Maori suicide is one of the most tragic problems the country has. Estimates in 2002 suggested Maori male and female youth suicide were approximately twice those of non-Maori (MOH, 2005). The frequency of suicides is not portrayed in the media, because scientific research has shown this may increase further suicides for a time after the report. According to the Ministry of Health, the weight of evidence suggests the correlation is significant. Copycat suicides are usually due to the power of suggestion on vulnerable young people with insurmountable personal crises, as an option (MOH, 1999). In Auckland there is approximately one suicide every three days. Three-quarters of all suicide deaths in New Zealand are male. According to the WHO there are nearly one million suicides worldwide annually. Mostly of men (Wikipedia, 2006). Experts have estimated depression as a cause of 90% of international suicidal promptings (Condon, 2004). Many studies have been done in New Zealand about the causes of suicide, and these include: poverty, unemployment, depression (and other mood disorders), substance abuse, loss of identity through tribal disconnection, dysfunctional childhood environments, cultural inequality, lack of social support and isolation, sexual orientation, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, recent loss or rejection, debilitating illness and childhood sexual abuse (MOH, 2005) The rationale for this research proposal is to investigate new suicide prevention strategies for Maori men, which could further eliminate causes not covered in Ministry of Health and New Zealand academic research and prevention publications. These include:· Finding out how soy in the diet, along with alcohol and cannabis intake, lower testosterone in men, which is one cause of depression. · Why abdominal fat can also lower testosterone. · How soy and wheat have the capacity to depress the thyroid, in turn leading to depression. · How milk and wheat can cause glue ear, leading to deafness and learning disability, which in turn could cause social inability, a tendency towards crime, (due to unemployment), and possible suicidal tendencies once incarcerated. As deep depression has been shown to be the single biggest cause of male suicides world-wide, possible little known but avoidable causes may be helpful in this regard to help stem suicidal tendencies. Each year New Zealand has over five hundred suicides approximately(MOH, 2005. Whilst economic restructuring and resultant unemployment and poverty occurred concurrently with an increase of young male suicide from the mid-1980s onwards, a number of other biological factors could also be considered (MOH, 2005). Between 1996 and 1997, 196 Maori took their own lives with nearly two-thirds by hanging or carbon monoxide suffocation (IPRC, 2001)