The Office for National Statistics revealed last month that 437 more people had killed themselves in the past couple of years.

Of the 6,045 suicides in 2011, the vast majority, 4,552, were men, a good many of them aged between 30 and 44.

Statistics like these always touch a nerve because some of those who do away with themselves appear to have a lot to live for – a job and family and social respect.

Earlier this year, the Manningham-based Samaritans centre told the Telegraph & Argus that a higher percentage than formerly of the 24,000 or so people who call them in a year express suicidal thoughts. Lack of hope and high expectations were cited as contributory factors.

More than three times the number of men than women kill themselves because, it is thought, men tend to bottle up their emotions, especially those to do with self-worth. Women are more companionable, more likely to chat to each other about their worries and troubles, whereas men silently try to go about their business feeling terrible.

In spite of campaigns over the past couple of years such as Men on the Ropes, a 24-hour helpline run by The Samaritans, the impulse to self-destruct continues to beat away below the surface of day-to-day life.

And as we know, since the credit crunch more than five years ago, daily life for many has become more problematic and fraught, especially for the young and those aged between 30 and 44. The institutions of belief – religion and politics – have become tarnished and discredited to many. So what’s left?

Music, the arts, creativity, says young Ben Tallon, born and raised in Keighley.

After six years of graphic design training at colleges in Keighley, Bradford and and Preston, at the age of 23 four years ago he started his own music company in Manchester called Quenched Music.

Shocked by the disproportionate number of young male suicides, for the past six months he has been campaigning on behalf of the organisation CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), the male suicide awareness charity.

He says: “It is something I have personally been fortunate enough to have avoided directly, but many friends have suffered depression and I know many who have lost loved ones to suicide.

“I have many close friends who I can always share my own troubles with. To learn there are so many who lack that was a huge catalyst in my involvement with this. I want other people to be in the place where I have been fortunate enough to have been.

“I think celebrity culture has a lot to answer for, things like X Factor that people aspire to without thinking about seven to ten years of hard work to get there.

“When people feel they can’t reach that level of glamour and success they think they’ve failed and don’t look around at the people they have they can relate to.”

One of the things he is doing is putting out an album of 17 tracks called Xpress comprising songs by 17 artists including The Strokes, The Libertines and Reverend and the Makers, whose lead singer, John McClure, is particularly supportive.

Ben hopes that the album, due out on May 3, will raise £10,000 or more to aid the charity work of CALM.

“People who struggle with mental illness and depression find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning. I want to see men standing up and screaming about their depression and how they’re dealing with it, not pretending everying is okay. It’s about getting those common flaws out into the open without shame,” he adds.

The Samaritans advise people to be vigilant for the following warning signs: l A change in patterns of sleeping and eating, drinking, smoking or using drugs l Becoming withdrawn from family and friends l Loss of self-esteem masquerading as self-deprecating jokes.

Last year, former Bradford City striker Dean Windass, seemingly indomitable and super-charged, shocked football by admitting that after his career ended he twice attempted suicide.

The feeling of worthlessness can undermine anybody at any time. There may not be a solution to depression, but there is an answer that Ben Tallon and others affirm – ‘don’t cut yourself off, get connected and involved. Fight back’.