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Doctor says alcohol implicated in 45 per cent of all suicides

The founder of the Irish Association of Suicidology, Dr John Connolly, has said teenage suicide tends to be a more impulsive act, and that alcohol can lead to an increase in that impulsivity.

“Alcohol is implicated in up to 45 per cent of all suicides,” he said. “It blinds people’s judgment and [causes them to] do things that are uncharacteristic and unusual for them. It can increase a person’s depression, which is a big factor in suicide.

“Teenagers tend to be far more impulsive than older people, who tend to plan things more . . . Alcohol can increase that impulsiveness, there is no doubt about that,” he said.