Article Transcultural Psychiatry 49(5) 696–717! The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1363461512459490 tps.sagepub.com Men in despair: A qualitative psychological autopsy study of suicide

The psychosocial circumstances surrounding men’s suicide in postconflict Central Northern Uganda were investigated using qualitative psychological autopsy interviews. Records of 17 men who died by suicide were identified through police and local leaders in Internally Displaced Peoples ’ camps of Amuru and Gulu Districts. Two to five signifi-cant others were interviewed around each case. Data were analyzed by interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Lost dignity and social value, lack of hope for the family’s future, overwhelming family responsibility, and mental illness were circum-stances found to have preceded the suicides. The protracted war in the Northern region of Uganda left men in rural communities feeling disempowered and disenfran-chised. This may have contributed to suicidal behavior in some of them. Suicide pre-vention in this area needs to be multidisciplinary with an emphasis on helping both men and women understand and deal with the many social changes that have evolved over time and affected their traditional roles and responsibilities