32,000 + cases in Universities - 0 deaths but 8 student suicides

[Sedih]

This is quite a remarkable statistic, more students have killed themselves than died of covid.

Do you think maybe we should focus on getting universities properly open as long as staff are safe and given PPE.

It just feels remarkably tragic that 8 young people have died in 4 weeks, this is much higher than normal years and presumably the result of covid.

It’s just sad all round

thetab.com/uk/2020/10/28/at-least-one-university-student-has-died-every-week-since-the-start-of-term-180334

[Sedih]

Bump

[KittyMcKitty]

I agree that it’s a situation which seriously needs looking at. Isolating students far from home - when they may have just left home for the first time is inhuman and a recipe for disaster.

[BaconandWaffles]

I agree with you, it’s a travesty how our young people have been treated. Their futures are being utterly destroyed without any consideration by the government.

[herecomesthsun]

So on a quick google I found this

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44583922

The Office of National Statistics figures show 95 recorded university student suicides for the 12 months to July 2017 in England and Wales.

This is about 2 deaths a week, so very comparable to the figures you mentioned.

So the key thing would be that in fact, there isn't much evidence of an increase.

The start of the autumn term is an especially difficult one. Many freshers come up to university for the first time, go a bit wild and become seriously mentally unwell. They may have used illicit substances for the first time, it might be their first few weeks ever away from home.

I certainly agree with you that, even if the figures aren't very different from normal, it is still very sad.

It is always very sad.

[janetmendoza]

Sadly this is not an unusual number of student suicides and happens every year. It is very sad to hear of these deaths of course but the pandemic does not seem to have had an impact on the numbers

[FishesaPlenty]

Sadly that seems around the normal student suicide rate. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2018-06-25

[FishesaPlenty]

x-post

[Sedih]

I’m shocked that is the natural suicide rate. I know suicides have risen in the general population.

[MrsPernicious]

The ONS also published provisional data for the second quarter of 2020, the peak of the covid-19 pandemic. It showed that there were 6.9 deaths by suicide per 100 000 people in England. This was the lowest of any quarter since 2001, but the ONS said that the lower number between April and June should be “interpreted with caution,” because the pandemic meant that inquests were delayed.

[Redolent]

I don’t think the solution is to open universities fully. The majority should never have moved back into halls. It was an absolute sham and I feel so sorry for them.



This article from around this time last year:

^The long read
‘The way universities are run is making us ill’: inside the student mental health crisis^

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/27/anxiety-mental-breakdowns-depression-uk-students

[knittingaddict]

Sadly it's not unusual for students to kill themselves. When my husband was at uni over 40 years ago there were safety nets in stairwells to prevent people using this as a method of suicide.

There was at least one suicide when my daughter was at uni a few years ago.

So if you're thinking to use this as an argument for fewer restrictions then think again.

[toxtethOgradyUSA]

@knittingaddict

Sadly it's not unusual for students to kill themselves. When my husband was at uni over 40 years ago there were safety nets in stairwells to prevent people using this as a method of suicide.

There was at least one suicide when my daughter was at uni a few years ago.

So if you're thinking to use this as an argument for fewer restrictions then think again.

Don't panic knittingaddict nobody is going to ease your restrictions. Jesus wept, I swear some people are enjoying this.

[GlomOfNit]

But staff (who are generally a fair bit older and therefore more at risk than the majority of students they teach) can't be safe if universities are run 'as normal'. No university has enough really large lecture halls to be able to safely accommodate socially distanced students plus staff for all the lectures that would normally be running at the same time. There simply isn't room. And if students were asked to 'go back to normal' and cram into regular lecture rooms, a lot of them (quite rightly) would object. Tutorials and seminars couldn't run 'as normal' without risk to staff members and students, because of proximity. And PPE at a level of what would be used in a university only goes so far to protect staff - what would protect them more would be if ALL students wore face coverings. My DH is a university lecturer. During his F2F seminars (yes, he is doing some F2F teaching, it is still happening!) he has to ask the bloody students to put on face coverings EVERY BLOODY TIME, ffs.

PPE only goes so far, and there will always be objections to lecturers wearing face coverings because someone can't hear.

I think students just have to accept that this is a really crap situation, that it will improve over time and that they - like every-bloody-body else! - have to get on with it.

The reported suicides this term are, I'm afraid, a red herring, as many other posters have pointed out. It's very sad, but there are hundreds of thousands of students in higher education and a small number of them will already be suffering severe MH issues. Universities have help available but obviously this is something that even in normal years, they can only go so far to mitigate.

[GlomOfNit]

and in case that was misconstrued, I absolutely didn't mean those students who have taken their own lives, should get on with being at university under these very trying conditions. Sorry, badly phrased.

I meant that students generally have to accept that university life in 2020 is a big pile of poo, but that they're there now and have to make the positive decision to make the best of it, as we all have to.

[SheepandCow]

As pp have already said sadly this is not unusual. It's even worse amongst the homeless population (including temporary but insecurely housed). Very high rates. Not surprising given their dire circumstances.

We have long needed better funding and treatment for mental health and social care, and for housing.

The attitude from people like toxtethOgradyUSA is the reason why our half hearted and therefore dragged out restrictions are ongoing.

Countries like Australia, New Zealand, the Isle of Man, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, much of Africa, took effective containment measures. They now have more normal lives.

[notevenat20]

The problem with having thousands of infected students in a city is that they then infect rest of the population and the older ones die.

[TableFlowerss]

Sadly no one cares enough about the negative affects on the young. Quantity of life over quality is the underlying theme unfortunately.

[DownThePlath]

@knittingaddict

An intelligent response toxtethOgradyUSA. Well done.

And you can fuck right off with your "enjoying this". You have no clue.

Well that's how you made it sound

[SheepandCow]

Worth thinking about wrt Covid. Long Covid has been linked to psychological and neurological problems.

[SheepandCow]

@TableFlowerss

Sadly no one cares enough about the negative affects on the young. Quantity of life over quality is the underlying theme unfortunately.

Long Covid is indeed of huge concern for the young. A potential lifetime of disability (physical and/or mental).

[GCAcademic]

Without wanting to minimise what are very tragic cases, we should bear in mind that the suicide rate within that age group is actually higher among non-students than it is among students. Rightly, there is a lot of focus on student mental health, but this seems to obscure a much larger problem within that age group which is not getting talked about.

[Juststopswimming]

Wtaf has student suicides got to do with fucking long covid?!? I utterly despair at some MN posters' ability to turn every single thread into a preach about the terrible dangers of long covid. [End rant]

[bumblingbovine49]

@Sedih

I’m shocked that is the natural suicide rate. I know suicides have risen in the general population.

This is not true. Suicides rose in 2019 compared to the previous few years ( which I think is where the erroneous idea that suicides have increased because of Covid came from) but this rise was before Covid

I n the long-term context , the trend in suicides is an overall long-term sustained since the 1980s

The interim data for 2020 is only just starting to be available so.I.am.not sure if we can say much about the numbers in 2002 compared to 2019 yet .

[bumblingbovine49]

Sustained decrease I meant to say