PESHAWAR, May 19: Many people attempting to commit suicide use drugs, including sedative and tranquillisers, to end their lives, doctors and healthcare staff said on Monday.

"On an average, we receive at least five people in unconscious condition every day who take excessive doses of sedative drugs in bid to commit suicide but their lives are saved due to timely medical aid," said the casualty medical officer of the Khyber Teaching Hospital here.

Most of these young men and women used sedatives to press their parents to accept their demands, he said. "They know that nothing will happen to them and they just take drugs to make themselves fall into a deep sleep", said the doctor.

A dispenser at the Lady Reading Hospital said that nearly all such patients survived as they had been brought to the hospital in time, adding that there were reports of deaths in rural areas because of a lack of healthcare facilities.

A casualty medical officer cautioned that such patients should immediately be brought to hospitals to avoid suspected over dosages, which could prove to be disastrous. Another doctor said that most of the people attempting suicides were teenagers, including girls, trying to resist their parents' decisions regarding matrimonial matters.

Psychologists said that the young people's resorting to drugs was a manifestation of escapism, adding that they used drugs as a means to escape from their difficult circumstances. "Frustration is the basic cause of such incidents. Young people of marriageable age use these tactics to get a decision in their favour," said a psychiatrist at a city hospital.

Some unfortunate people, who used drugs containing high-potency poisons, including rat-killing powders and anti-bugs tablets, die before they could be given medical aid.

Psychologists said that such extreme steps were the outcome of disintegrated personalities, lacking clarity, confidence, will and patience to deal with their domestic affairs.