Too many young people commit suicide

Prime Minister Erna Solberg.Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

The prime minister invited all to an open house at the prime minister’s residence on World Suicide Day. She thinks suicide prevention has been too low a priority.

In conversation with Else and Cecilie Ramona Kåss Furuseth, Erna Solberg (H) said that her first knowledge of suicide was when a boy at the high school she attended took his life.

“I didn’t know him very well, but I knew him and it put a dent in us. No one had seen the signs,” she said.

Solberg further stated that both mental health protection and suicide prevention have been too low a priority in Norway in recent years. On the sustainability goals for health, Norway scores worst on mental health.

“Too many young people commit suicide,” she said.

When asked if the prime minister believes there should be a zero vision for suicide in Norway, she replied that one can never have anything but a zero vision for suicide.

“You can’t say it’s okay with fifty suicides a year. It’s not okay for anyone.”

The prime minister also said that she has sometimes felt hopelessness, but that good displacement has helped her.

“I quickly put things away. I think it’s a strength not to dwell too much on things you have done that are foolish, and mistakes you make,” Solberg said.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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