Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

PROFESSOR Thomas Joiner of Florida State University is an internationally-recognised suicide expert.

He has written several papers on the subject and has also published a book on the issue.

But not only is Professor Joiner an expert on the subject, he knows what it is like to lose a family member to suicide. When he was studying in university, his father committed suicide by slitting his wrist with a knife. He bled to death and his body was discovered 60 hours after his death a few miles from home, necessitating a closed- casket funeral.

"The last time I saw my dad was June 1990 ... I am still stunned to think that six weeks later he would leave the house and walk away from us forever. He never said goodbye to my mother, my sisters, or me," Professor Joiner wrote in his book: Why People Die By Suicide.

Professor Joiner says suicidal behaviours are a symptom of a mental disorder. These disorders, he says, may be prevented through mental health treatment.

Over a million people worldwide die by suicide each year, and there are at least five million additional attempts that are non-lethal but still serious. University of the West Indies professor of psychiatry and mental health expert, Frederick Hickling, says that Jamaica has the third lowest suicide rate in the world at three per 100,000.

There have been at least five reported cases of suicides,

attempted suicide and suicide/murders since the start of the year. Only two weeks ago prominent trade unionist Norman daCosta, 59, killed himself at his home in Cocoa Walk, near Cross Keys in Manchester.

And last week, the police were called on to investigate a case of murder and attempted suicide. The man, a police sergeant, shot his female friend after dropping off a child at the School for the Deaf in Papine, St. Andrew. He then turned the gun on himself. He is still battling for life in hospital.

In October there was also another case of murder/suicide in Spanish Town when another police constable killed his girlfriend and then turned the gun on himself. There was a similar case in February, also involving a policeman.

Last Wednesday, a 29-year-old Kingston man was found dead, swinging by a length of rope, at an Oliver Road premises. Police suspect suicide.