Last September I started writing a case study on patient safety for an academic paper. For every sentence, it required evidence. Unfortunately, the level of evidence for some of the material is not high because of the nature of the subject. Secondly, research in mental illness is poorly funded in the UK.

I am reminded of a young friend who is looking for a job but she can’t find one as they require her to have experience which she cannot gain unless she has a job. A classic chicken and egg situation.

So, the deadline has been extended time and again and finally we are going to have another attempt at submitting it before the end of this month. The lowest level of evidence to be found is Level 5 – ‘Case series or studies with no control’.

Here is one that I am going to use to support my statement: “Almost everyone who is suicidal is ambivalent. They don’t necessarily want to die. They just want the pain to end.” Hopefully it will be accepted. 

Kevin Hines is one of less than 1% of people to survive a jump from the Golden Gate bridge in a suicidal attempt. He is now a mental health advocate and works actively towards suicide prevention.

“The millisecond my hands left that rail, I thought, ‘what have I just done? I don’t want to die, God please save me’, and then I hit the water,” he said.
“You fall four seconds, you hit the water and get vacuum sucked down 70 or 80 ft – when I opened my eyes I was alive. “All I desperately wanted to do was survive – suicide experts call this being ‘shocked into reality’.”

Ref:

Kevin Hines:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-29995470

Youtube clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcSUs9iZv-g

Website: http://www.kevinhinesstory.com/bio/