It is true that some of the increased incidence of suicide is down to the fact that we now tell the truth. We do not have reliable figures for the incidence of suicide prior to the 1970s because the community consequence of the admission that somebody had his or her own life was so incredible that everybody, church and State to a degree, conspired, perhaps rightly, not to describe it as suicide because of the horrific consequences. In those days church figures felt that if it was made public, they were bound to take a certain course, which was very difficult.