How much longer before action?
Posted on 26/01/2010 | 1 Comments
Last week, there appears an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about suicide deaths due to jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inmarin/detail?&entry_id=55733. According the Chronicle, last year there were 31 deaths, the year before that there were 34. Over 1,300 people have died by suicide from jumping from the bridge since it was built.
And what is the essence of the story? Apparently the Marin County Coroners Office wants to recommend suicide prevention barriers and this is controversial. And guess what – more studies are apparently recommended.
Now, readers of this blog know how committed I am to research. You also know that I am committed to action. Will putting up an appropriate barrier decrease the rate of successful suicides by jumping from the bridge? Highly likely. Is this a good thing. For sure. So why is it not being done. Who knows?
I remember the hard work that went into getting barriers erected on the Bloor St. Viaduct in Toronto. There the effort was lead by a young man with lived experience of mental illness. I know of the hard work that went into getting a barrier erected on the MacDonald Bridge in Halifax. There the effort was lead by a mother who had lost her son to suicide from the bridge.
It the courageous activity of people like those Toronto and Halifax citizens that seems to be necessary before authorities can act. I am so proud to know and support those leaders and I thank them for everything that they have done and continue to do in this regard. What I don’t get is this. Why is it so hard to do the right thing when it comes to mental health action?
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This is a great set of comments and rings very true.
I totally agree that scientists (just like everyone else) have their biases and foibles. After all, scientists are human beings too! But science is different than scientists.
The scientific method is the most objective frame that we have by which to evaluate and predict. Science is not about finding truth. It is only about being less wrong most of the time. The scientific method (experimental design and mathematics) gives us the ability to test what we believe. The scientific method is not used to prove something is correct, on the contrary, the scientific method is designed to prove that something is not correct! It is designed to test what is called the “null hypothesis”. It takes ideas that come out of left field (or wherever else they come from) and puts those ideas to an independent test.
t does not drive our beliefs. It does however challenge our beliefs. In that way it is self-correcting. Of course scientific inquiry and understanding lives within a wider social context. That is one of the great features of science.
But gravity is gravity, social context notwithstanding. And thus it is nasty, brutish and long. As Brecht said, (something like this) - the purpose of science is to save us from everlasting error.
By Christina Carew on May 11th
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We would like to say thanks...
Without their help this initiative would not be possible. Thanks for you help.
What people are saying?
Matt said...
Perhaps every bridge that is build needs to have these things in mind to prevent as many as possible. Its sad to think a people use the bridges to end there lifes but it happens no matter what you do people will always find a way
Comment made on August 05th, 2010
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