In the UK, suicide rates have not risen simply because the population has grown. Over the past century, the population increased steadily while suicide rates rose and fell with social change.
From the late 1970s onwards, rates climbed even as national wealth grew. The same pattern appears in the United States. This tells you something important: economic growth on its own does not protect people. Social conditions matter more. One of the biggest changes in Western societies has been the move from extended families to nuclear families.
A nuclear family usually means parents and their children living alone. An extended family includes grandparents, adult children and close relatives living together or in regular daily contact. Extended families were once common in the UK. Today, smaller households, mobility for work and distance between relatives are the norm. That change has consequences.
Extended families offered constant emotional, practical and financial support. If someone was struggling, it was noticed. Help came quickly. Older men often kept a clear role within the family, even after retirement.
As extended families declined, isolation increased. Many men lost their daily purpose and support at the same time.
Research repeatedly shows that isolation raises suicide risk. Living alone, divorce, widowhood and weak contact with relatives are all linked to higher suicide rates, especially among middle‑aged and older men. These situations are now common in nuclear‑family societies. While this does not prove a direct cause, the pattern is hard to ignore.
When you look beyond the West, the contrast is clear. In Oman, extended family life is still normal. Older people are rarely left alone. Financial strain is shared. Changes in mood or behaviour are more likely to be noticed early. While this does not mean life is free of hardship, it does mean fewer people face that hardship alone.
Strong family cohesion reduces the kind of isolation that often comes before suicide. Wealth has not replaced this support in the UK or the US.
Rising GDP has sometimes gone hand in hand with insecure work, frequent relocation and weaker community ties. Many people are expected to cope privately, even during long periods of distress. Mental illness sits at the centre of this problem.
Many people who die by suicide suffer from clinical depression, an illness linked to a chemical imbalance in the brain.
My own life reflects this. Depression did not lift through willpower or improved circumstances. Medication helped. And today, living in Oman, supported by my Omani wife’s extended family, I am happy and stable.
Suicide is rarely the result of one event. Relationship breakdown, debt, illness, retirement and substance misuse often build up slowly.
Without extended family support, these pressures can stay hidden. The shift from extended to nuclear families does not explain everything, but it does increase vulnerability. The value of family support in Oman is something I have come to understand not just intellectually, but personally.
When I was younger and living in the UK, suicidal thoughts came more than once. What changed my life was treatment. Newer antidepressants, particularly SSRIs, brought balance back and may well have saved my life. That experience shapes how I see suicide, not only as a medical condition but as something deeply shaped by how we live together.
Depression is treatable. If you feel persistently low for more than two weeks, seek medical help and reach out to your family.
Depression is not a sign of weakness any more than any other serious illness. Connection, support and treatment save lives.
Karim Easterbrook
The writer is a former Cambridge School Principal and author
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