Debt crisis sinks Greeks into gloom, suicide on rise

By Dina Kyriakidou

ATHENS (Reuters) - In April, a carpet shop owner in the Greek ski resort of Arachova was found dangling from a rope from a bridge on the road to the nearby ancient site of Delphi.

"Don't look for other reasons. The economic crisis led me to this. I have debts to the social security fund, my stockists and my landlady," the 64-year-old father said in a note.

Such public acts may be rare in Greece but officials say fiscal woes are sinking the traditionally sunny Mediterranean nation into gloom, pushing the suicide rate up sharply.

"Our times are dominated by depression and even mourning for the loss of everything people had managed to achieve in their lives," said Aris Violatzis, a clinical psychologist at the private Klimaka suicide hotline.

"Suicide is always due to a combination of several reasons but the economic crisis is becoming a major factor," he added.

In the last two years, the Greek government has imposed harsh austerity measures to deal with a huge debt mountain as Greece plummeted into its deepest recession in 40 years.

Businesses are shutting down, the public sector is shrinking and unemployment is expected to rise by 17 percent this year. In the Athens area alone, more than 20 percent of shops have closed since 2010, according to the Greek Retailers' Association.

In one case that shocked Athenians, a businessmen jumped to his death from the fourth floor of a luxury hotel on Syndagma Square in May. His suicide note said the financial crisis had left him with nothing.

CAR CRASHES, COVER-UPS

According to the World Health Organisation, Greece was traditionally at the bottom of the global list but the numbers are rising fast.

The health minister told parliament there was a 40 percent increase in the last two years in this nation of 11 million.

Precise up-to-date statistics are hard to come by, but support groups say unofficial figures showed a rise to 391 suicides in 2009 from 328 in 2007.

And experts say the reality is much worse. To avoid stigmatising their families, some people crash their cars in what police usually report as accidents.

Families often cover up a suicide so their loved ones can be buried as the Greek Orthodox church refuses to officiate at burials of people who take their own lives.

"The real suicide rate is many times the official one," Violatzis told Reuters. "Right now we have the biggest increase in Europe.

In what Violatzis called "the first description of a psychotic episode" by Homer, Trojan hero Ajax killed himself after a manic rage over losing the armour of his slain cousin Achilles to fellow warrior Odysseus.

"Since the times of Ajax, people despair when they lose their sense of worth, when they feel they've become a burden," he said. "It is now affecting those who took on the role of provider and can't play it any more."

The increase in suicides has even prompted MPs to ask questions in parliament and the government to pledge more action on mental health, including boosting help to support groups.

The head of the state social support hotline, Christos Hombas, said most Greek suicides involve mature men who have difficulty asking for help.

"It's usually people of a certain age and economic status who lost their jobs, have big debts," he told Reuters. "People have invested too much in this aspect of their lives -- economic and social status -- and when they lose it they feel they've lost everything."

Traditional Greek mental health safeguards -- the closely knit family, a communicative and expressive nature -- are slowing eroding as society becomes more westernised, he said.

"The special characteristics of Greek society are changing," Hombas said. "If the financial crisis continues, we will soon be like Finland and Hungary."

Friends of the Arachova businessman who took his own life said he owed only about 30,000 euros but had despaired because he saw no end to the crisis and his financial troubles.

"He couldn't go on. When he saw the landlord bolt down his shop, it was the last straw," said a friend who requested anonymity.

(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Peter Millership)

Copyright © 2011 Reuters

Debt crisis sinks Greeks into gloom, suicide on rise