Are you equally okay? Political discourse, inequality and suicide

World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September) and R U OK Day (12 September) are timely reminders of the fact that vulnerability and resilience are "unevenly distributed" in this country, with many younger persons from diverse backgrounds positioned to feel that life is unliveable.

When a new Coalition government is elected on a tacit platform of uneven distribution (as seen in elements of the paid parental scheme, a harsh anti-refugee policy and the failure to support same-sex marriage), pre-existing inequalities are exacerbated and so too is the sense for many of an unliveable life.

Many people in this country remain vulnerable to suicidal thoughts and acts. One way of understanding suicide is that it is the outcome of intolerable emotional pain-much like prolonged physical pain, one will do anything to avoid it. If it becomes unbearable, then suicide too-regularly becomes the logical solution.

Understanding the causes of intolerable emotional pain is one necessary element in moving forward towards a world in which suicide is unthinkable. And part of understanding the unbearability of existence for some will involve us looking seriously at how the range of social and economic inequalities that are routinely exacerbated under Coalition and conservative governments contribute to the conceptual framework in which suicide is the outcome.

In some cases, suicide can be understood to be the result of persistently-frustrated aspirations. Aspirations, which are built on social comparisons, are part of the way in which we play out our identities. We look to our peers to work out the difference between an aspiration and a ludicrous fantasy.

Part of the Coalition's electoral appeal for some voters was the result of its persistent promise that neo-liberal market forces allow aspirations to both flourish and be achieved. The reality under such governance is, of course, somewhat different.

The likelihood of frustrated aspirations is constant for many people, no matter how the political, economic and social circumstances change. This constitutes a difficult to discern underclass of people who warrant and rely on persistent and ongoing suicide prevention and intervention activities.

Economic and Social Inequalities: Have-Nots and Not-Norms

There are two examples of how we can understand the situation of the many people who experience suicidality as the outcome of increasing inequalities by which aspirations are dashed.

The first is comprised of those young people who, living in a country in which an "American Dream" anyone-from-anywhere-can-make-it-with-a-bit-of-effort style of aspiration is increasingly dashed. This might include those who remain unemployed while their peers find employment. It may be to do with a chosen career area, or it may simply be bad luck, an inability to represent oneself well in job applications and interviews. It may be those who, while some of their peers buy houses and cars and live a normative consumerist lifestyle, are unable to do likewise resulting from a range of accidental circumstances that affect their finances or credit rating.

Increases in the overall incomes and economic stability in Australia have not resulted in a genuine increase in individual affluence or financial stability for all member of the population. Rather, it has produced a substantial increase in inequalities (http://www.pc.gov.au/research/staff-working/income-distribution-trends).

Such an increase produces, unfortunately, an increased 'gap' in the differences between those who have (or can afford) and those who do not (and cannot). When one's peers excel far beyond one's own capacities, the increased inequality results in an increase in the likelihood of aspirations beings frustrated, thereby leading to the sorts of intolerable emotional pain that can be a factor in suicidality.

The new Abbott government's agenda is already clearly one which claims to increase affluence from all but which, in analysis, will only produce further inequalities. The work of preventing suicide-the work of ensuring that our neighbour or our peer is OK-likewise increases.

The second example includes all those who are unable to achieve a sense of fulfilled selfhood by failing to be included in what counts as normative. Younger LGBTQ persons are a known group with higher rates of suicidality. While I have previously argued (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14017) that marriage equality will never be a cure-all for queer youth suicide suicide, the act of actively denying marriage equality does for many young people increase the likelihood of feeling "less normal" or otherwise excluded from normativity.

Even though any idea of a "norm" is mythical, it is still a very potent concept for how we understand ourselves in relation to others, to equalities and to social life. For younger persons with fewer conceptual resources and experience, a sense of being located near "the norm" can be one of the most significant preoccupations.

As with the first example, there is pain associated with being positioned as "less normal" than others, and this can be a pain that is, in its most extreme scenarios, intolerable, leading to a sense of living a life that is unliveable.

While the former Prime Minister Rudd's support for marriage equality was relatively tacit and by no means an adequate response to queer youth suicidality, the vocal opposition to same-sex marriage by many parliamentary members of the Coalition is one that is very clearly built on the idea that same-sex attractions, sexualities and relationships are inherently "not normal."

Seriously Okay

At a very practical level, there are a number of serious threats to suicide prevention that will come from the Coalition's pulling back of government services in addition to the social factors that frustrate aspirations to economic and social equalities. These services provide a valuable safety net for the most vulnerable in ways that are often not addressed and difficult to measure.

In June this year, I was fortunate to be invited to give a talk on approaches to understanding queer youth suicide in Geelong with the Geelong Adolescent Sexuality Project (GASP) (http://www.wayout.org.au/rural-youth-groups/gasp-geelong). Practitioners, community members, activists, youth support workers and concerned parents as well as health services students attended. This was a rare and powerful opportunity for researchers, service providers in suicide prevention and community workers to get themselves on the same page and learn from each other.

What was of note was the location. The discussion was held at and supported by the Barwon Medicare Local, one of the organisations that employs over 3,000 health workers, which the Coalition has toyed with either shutting down or at least reviewing (http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/tony-abbott-says-he-will-review-medicare-locals-20130829-2ss3l.html).

Striking, for me, was that this particular Medicare Local was a hive of activity at a time when Geelong's population was suffering increases in unemployment-into the late evening the building buzzed with the sound of engaged people from different walks of life seeking to ensure that the most vulnerable among the local population are indeed "okay". As a hub for different people doing different things with the same goal of addressing vulnerability, it gave a sense of hope that safety nets are-for now-in place, while others continue the push towards a less-inequitable, less-vulnerable and aspiration-friendly social environment.

If we are to be truly serious as a country that seeks to prevent suicide, then we need to consider the relationship between different kinds of inequality (in resources, in a sense of normality) and the factors that make life feel unliveable.

Intervention and prevention methods are important, and will always be necessary in providing support and generating resilience for those most in need. However, with the increase in inequality that is routinely produced by conservative governments, there is an imperative to use all available resources to ask if others who will now be left behind in the rush towards affluence and normativity will genuinely "be okay".