Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 1, 1993                   TAG: 9306010018
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HELSINKI, FINLAND                                LENGTH: Medium

HIGH SUICIDE RATE FINLAND'S SECRET

"I've done it a few times. I've tried to kill myself," she said, speaking with what is considered remarkable openness in Finland. "I was crying out for help."

Finland has one of the world's highest standards of living - and the second-highest suicide rate, after Hungary. But Finns don't discuss suicide, which is considered taboo. Petra refused to give her last name.

About 1,500 of Finland's 5 million people commit suicide each year - 28 among every 100,000 Finns. Every fourth teen-age death is a suicide, the Social and Health Ministry reports.

No one knows why. But the traditional Finnish reserve, which hampers investigation of the problem, could be a clue to its cause.

"The reticence of Finnish men is not a myth - it's a sad truth and it's killing us," Dr. Martti Tenhu, of the University of Helsinki, said recently. "Men would rather hang themselves than talk about their illnesses or marital and other problems."

A suicide in Finland is said to have "died suddenly," the same phrase used to describe traffic deaths. There is no "suicide hot line," although state psychiatrists are available by phone to people with problems.

Most Finnish suicides are men. One in every 2,000 adult males over 20 kills himself. Among males aged 15 to 24, Finland has the world's highest rate - 40 suicides for every 100,000 in that age group.

Alarmed by the trend, the government conducted an extensive suicide study in 1987-88. Researchers performed autopsies on victims, interviewed family and friends, even charted the weather and the economy.

"We found no common factor that could explain the high rate of suicide," said Jouko Lonnqvist, who headed the project for the state Mental Health Department.

Lonnqvist blamed difficulty in communicating for the high suicide rate.

The researchers said they have no evidence to link Finland's suicides to winter darkness or to Finns' ethnic relationship to Hungarians, who have the world's highest overall suicide rate at 40 deaths per 100,000 people.