“Effects of age and Gender on Elderly Suicide Rates in Catholic and Orthodox Countries: an Inadvertant Neglect?”: Comment

Comments on the article by C. Pritchard & D. Baldwin on the comparison of suicide rates among the elderly in different religious cultures. They found that the elderly in Catholic or Orthodox countries committed suicide more than in less traditional cultures. In a study in Dublin, Kirby et al found a relatively high frequency of feelings of hopelessness but a low frequency of more intense feelings of suicidality. Dublin has a Catholic religious culture. It is suggested that the traditional Catholic culture may be merely ‘protecting’ the older person from expressing the more suicidal feelings, but not from suicide itself. (4 refs.)