MENTAL health experts have warned of the sharp rise in suicide attempts as a result of the financial crisis, leaving people facing job loss and repossession.

Just this weekend, a 53-year-old Granada man hanged himself on the day his home was due to be seized by the bank, and another man of around 50 tried to kill himself by leaping out of a second-floor window in Burjassot (Valencia) when the lenders foreclosed on his mortgage.

In 2010 alone, a total of 3,158 people successfully committed suicide, although this does not take into account the many thousands more who attempt it every day due to very real money worries.

Italy and Greece are seeing the same trends, with a case of a man in his 80s having committed suicide earlier this summer in Greece due to his home being on the repossession list.

Although mental health workers say there are usually other circumstances or existing depression which leads people to take the final, tragic decision, the financial crisis in southern Europe has led to an increase in deaths through suicide and incidences of depression in previously healthy people.

Isolation and loneliness are also major factors in suicidal thoughts, say psychiatrists.

As a result of the recent suicide in Granada, opposition members of the central government have been pushing for laws covering repossession to be 'urgently' reformed.

One idea is that those who face having to hand back the keys to the bank can do so in exchange for wiping out the mortgage debt, and may continue to live in the property for two years.

Around 517 homes are repossessed every day in Spain, and the overall total has risen by 13.4 per cent in the past year.

One mayor in Spain, leader of the United Left (Izquierda Unida), managed to stop 130 repossessions in his town by going on a hunger strike recently.