Townsville suicide rates reveal a heartbreaking trend for men with diagnosed mental illness
Townsville leads Queensland's regional suicide crisis as shocking new data reveals a devastating truth about those who sought help before taking their lives.
Townsville continues to dominate regional suicide rates – but the fatal factors driving this heartbreaking statistic might not be what you think.
New data gathering methods have brought to light a previously unappreciated risk factor, and have also continued to build evidence around obvious patterns.
In 2024, 769 people died by suspected suicide, according to annual data recently released by the Queensland Mental Health Commission.
Of this tragic number, 602 were men and 167 were women, and the age group that died by suicide most was 40-44 year olds.
However, among men every age group from 25 to 59 was recording consistently high suicide deaths – and there was even a spike in the 70-79 age range.
Less data meant the findings were more unreliable for women, but female suicide rates were highest in their late 20s and after the age of 40.
Townsville woman Fiona Finucane lost her husband Jim to suicide in 2022.
Mrs Finucane said her husband had been battling with late onset bipolar, a condition he’d lived with for 20 years.
“He could not see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
“We were just an average, everyday Australian family up until then.”
Jim’s attempts to seek help for a diagnosed mental health condition puts him squarely in the middle of a new data point that is shining more light on suicides rates in 2024.
Inside the commission's report, it found 37.8 per cent of people (291) who died from suicide in 2024 were diagnosed with at least one mental illness at the time of their death.
Women were more likely to have a diagnosis than men, but men were 1.3 times more likely to have behaviour that suggested they had an undiagnosed mental illness.
More heartbreaking was data that looked at how many deceased people had recently been in contact with a mental health professional.
The commission found 27.6 per cent of men had contacted a mental health professional and seven per cent had been hospitalised for mental illness before their deaths.
The rates for women were way higher – 38.9 per cent had contacted a mental health professional and 19.2 per cent had been hospitalised before their death.
The 2024 suicide survey was the first one to focus on mental health diagnoses and treatment as a data point.
“There is a significant difference between the reported mental health diagnoses in 2023 and those recorded in 2024,” the report stated.
“This discrepancy is primarily due to the lack of mental health diagnosis data collected in the iQSR system prior to its transition to the commission.”
The commission took over suicide reporting in mid-2023 following recommendations from an independent review.
The most frequently reported mental illnesses were depression (213 people), anxiety (88 people) and schizophrenia (44 people).
Mrs Finucane said in her husband’s last three months of life he had a severe downfall into depression.
“It was so severe that no medication or treatment or inpatient services were able to improve Jim’s health,” she said.
“I believe that Jim thought I would lead a better life without him. This is certainly not the case.”
Jim was 67 when he passed away, and had an added risk factor because his own father had died from suicide 50 years prior.
“Jim always thought his father had undiagnosed bipolar just like he had, as he recognised the symptoms in himself,” Mrs Finucane said.
“It is absolutely crucial that suicide figures get studied more in order to protect the upcoming generation … more research into hereditary mental illness is urgently needed in order to save lives. Seeing as though adults spend roughly a third of their lives at work, I would like to see organisations take a greater responsibility for the health and wellbeing of employees.”
According to the North Queensland Primary Health Network, which runs from Mackay to the Torres Strait and accounts for 722,000+ residents, the North was the worst in the state for suicides, recording 20.2 per cent of all suicide deaths in 2024, outpacing suicide rates for the larger Brisbane North and Brisbane South PHNs.
“Caution must be taken when examining statistics as figures fluctuate from year to year,” the commission said when questioned about the NQPHN’s high rates.
“The previous year NQPHN was fourth within the table and current 2025 year-to-date data is indicating a return to a similar (lower) position.”
When suicides rates are broken down into smaller regions, Townsville and Cairns regions each recorded 52 suspected suicides, the largest outside the South-East.
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Originally published as Townsville suicide rates reveal a heartbreaking trend for men with diagnosed mental illness
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