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From this brief report it is impossible to put
forward suggestions that might influence the suicide rate in
Hampstead as a particular metropolitan unit. There are however,
certain general aspects of the subject to which I would like to
draw your attention.
By and large there tends to be some impression amongst
the public that the person who threatens to commit suicide will
not do so. I do not think there is any justification for this
impression. A proportion of people who eventually do commit
suicide have threatened to do so, or have indicated in their
conversation that their minds are turning towards the ending of
their lives. In some cases it is possible that in their conversation
they are throwing forward hints in the hope that their
listeners will help them. In my opinion a threat of suicide should
be taken seriously.
I am sure in looking through the methods of committing
suicide that you will come to the conclusion that some steps
should be taken to prevent the ease with which the public can
obtain dangerous medicines in lethal quantities. I do not think
it to be a fact that the person who has made up his mind to commit
suicide will sooner or later do so. It is likely that the presence
of a fatal drug, or an easy means of terminating his life, may
cause him to take a fatal step at a time when temporarily his mind
is unbalanced. It is more than possible that if the means of death
had not been available at that time, he or she might have discovered
that the situation was not either so serious or permanent as had
been anticipated.
To some extent there are fashions in suicide and this I
think is of considerable importance. It is a frequent occurrence to