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Concerns are growing that social media was used to drive false reports of farm suicides.
A Facebook post by a page called Farm Safety Ireland reported the death of five farmers in north Cork in the space of four days on 13 May. The post was shared 796 times and received 341 reactions on Facebook. However, it has now been confirmed that there was just one case of suspected suicide in that time frame in north Cork. It was not connected to farming.
“We received many calls about the social media post and in the first instance we took it as real,” Prof Ella Arensman of National Suicide Research Foundation told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“We contacted the chief north Cork coroner and got the response that there had been one suspected suicide in that time frame, but it was not linked to farming.”
Prof Arensman said that a similar false report surfaced on social media in 2016, when it was reported that 16 people had taken their own lives in 16 days in the Cork region.
Although the report was proven to be false, it led to a 30% rise in the number of children referred to mental health services by concerned parents.
While suicide and mental health remains a serious issue for the farming community, false reports can be unhelpful and serve to add to hysteria, and could potentially sow the idea into the minds of vulnerable people.
The farming community also faces a complicated uphill battle against the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
“There is a slightly different profile between older and younger farmers, with a higher level of stigma with older farmers,” Prof Arensman explained.
“In older farmers we see high levels of depression, anxiety and substance abuse.
“There’s an idea that they can’t talk to their GP and usually cuts in funding or farm payments are a trigger, but not a causal factor.
“The opposite can be true for younger farmers, where financial issues at the beginning of their farm career can cause the start of mental health problems.”
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