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In the first of the latest series of The Spark, Helen Lewis meets Rory O'Connor, author of When It Is Darkest, who sets out his radical new approach to suicide prevention.

Professor Rory O'Connor leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory at the University of Glasgow. He has dedicated his career to the study of why, as he puts it, some people 'lose their struggle to live' - and of how suicide can be prevented. He tells Helen about some of the persistent myths he has identified, such as the notion that by raising the subject with someone, you risk planting the idea in their mind. Much better, he says, to reach out to someone who appears to be struggling than to shy away.

He explains how suicide is best understood as a behaviour, not simply as the by-product of mental illness, and unpacks his Integrated Motivational-Volitional Model of how some people end up taking their own life.

And he talks candidly about how suicide has affected him personally, through the loss of two friends and colleagues - and about how coming to terms with this has informed his understanding of the human complexity of the subject.

Producer: Phil Tinline

If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline