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Thursday 13 March 2014

Viewpoint: Is macho culture causing young men to take their own lives?

BBC News

Three times as many men as women kill themselves. Is a culture of masculinity where men struggle to communicate their feelings partly to blame, asks Jonny Benjamin.

I can vividly recall the moment I decided I was going to take my own life. It was early on the Sunday evening of 13 January 2008. Suicide had been something I had contemplated since my mid-teens, but it wasn't until now, just a couple of weeks from my 21st birthday, that I made a plan to actually end my life.
From the point of making my decision to the moment I attempted to go through with it the next day, I came into contact with various people, including family, friends and even doctors. I had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression and was in hospital being treated for it at the time. None of them had any notion of my imminent intentions. Simply, I was too ashamed and afraid of what they might think if I were to tell them about the suicidal thoughts and feelings that were consuming me. 

Furthermore, I just could not find the words to vocalise my state of mind.

I was stopped from killing myself by the incredible kindness of a passing stranger, who I recently launched a social media campaign to track down so I could express my gratitude. The Find Mike campaign quickly went viral, and within just two weeks we were reunited. 

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