Abstract
Background: Few “interventions” around suicide and stigma have reached into psychiatric institutions. Lived Lives is a science-arts approach to addressing suicide and stigma, informed by a psychobiographical and visual arts autopsy. The resulting artworks and mediated exhibition (Lived Lives), with artist, scientist and the Lived Lives families, co-curated by communities, has facilitated dialogue, response and public action around stigma-reduction, consistent with a community intervention. Recent evidence from Lived Lives moved us to consider how it may situate within a psychiatric institution, where stigma is chronically apparent. Methods: Lived Lives manifested in St. Patrick’s University Hospital (Ireland’s oldest and largest psychiatric hospital) in November 2017. The mediated exhibition was open to the public for 4 days. Audiences included service users, policy makers, health professionals, senior hospital administrators and members of the public. Opinions and feelings were collected. The event was documented. Bereavement support was available. A Clinician and an artist provided independent evaluation. Results: 86 participants engaged with the exhibition. 62% of participants were suicide-bereaved; 46% had experienced a mental health difficulty, and 35% had been suicidal in the past. 91% thought Lived Lives could be of benefit in the aftermath of a suicide death. Half of participants thought Lived Lives could help reduce suicidal feelings, whereas 88% thought it could benefit those with Mental Health difficulties. The emotional response was of a visceral nature, including fear, anger, sadness, disgust and anxiety. Bereavement support was occasionally called upon in a supportive capacity. Conclusions: Lived Lives sits comfortably in discomfort, unafraid to call out the home-truths about stigma and its pervasive and pernicious impact, and with restoring identity at its core. Lived Lives can operate within a psychiatric hospital, as well as in community. The challenge is to move it forward for greater exposure and impacts in at-risk communities.
Highlights
Introduction and contextDepression and suicide in Ireland Over the past decade (2005 – 2016), there has been an average of 590 suicide and open verdict deaths per year in Ireland (504 suicide deaths, 86 open verdict according to the CSO) (Central Statistics Office, 2019)
Four participants identified as patients, 53 identified as “not a patient” and 11 participants did not answer this question. 17 of the participants took part in the final day of the Lived Lives mediated exhibition as part of the Founders Day Mental Health Conference hosted by the hospital
AP suggests that Lived Lives “gives audiences access to shared authorship in the work and the means to make a difference in the way the subject of suicide is mediated and disseminated
Summary
Introduction and contextDepression and suicide in Ireland Over the past decade (2005 – 2016), there has been an average of 590 suicide and open verdict deaths per year in Ireland (504 suicide deaths, 86 open verdict according to the CSO) (Central Statistics Office, 2019). Each year, in excess of 20,000 living individuals in Ireland are impacted by an MDD-related suicide death. This impact (or toll) is cumulative, such that over a decade, in excess of 200,000 living individuals in Ireland carry this loss. The resulting artworks and mediated exhibition (Lived Lives), with artist, scientist and the Lived Lives families, co-curated by communities, has facilitated dialogue, response and public action around stigma-reduction, consistent with a community intervention. 62% of participants were suicide-bereaved; 46% had experienced a mental health difficulty, and 35% had been suicidal in the past. Half of participants thought Lived Lives could help reduce suicidal feelings, whereas 88% thought it could benefit those with Mental Health difficulties. Conclusions: Lived Lives sits comfortably in discomfort, unafraid to call
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