RECENT suicide cases among people have received national attention and public concern. Unfortunately, the understanding required by this important issue is far from complete. There are many risk factors and triggers associated with it and is also directly related to psychopathology, personality traits and family /social factors. How these factors interact and what leads to the final act of suicide, is what we need to find out.
What actually is suicide and what compels a person to choose this option? Death as a part of whole evolutionary process is considered a final stage and ending of a physical consciousness that affects us in many ways. And suicide is the conscious decision to end one’s life, a state from which there is no return. Yet, in individuals who commit suicide the act of ending one’s life seems to be the only choice, the only answer to life’s misery.
The problem is multifaceted and no definite casual factor can be recognized. Although suicide is more prevalent in those people with psychiatric illness but psychosocial problems like unemployment leading to economic instability, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual orientation, failing at school, work and love, childlessness, fast deepening sense of insecurity. All play an important role in the development of frustrations and thus suicidal tendencies.
Suicide was supposed to be the domain of the elderly, now young adults have seemed to have taken the lead in this pursuit of death. Adolescence is a time of extra ordinary change and indeed a stressful and difficult phase. Increasing responsibility, pressures socially and academically. Moreover change is occurring mentally and physically. Sexual orientation too can become a problem as an adolescent struggle to contend with being different from the accepted norm. Self discovery and assuming one’s identity during this time can be a tough process. This period can be a time of trial and error and in this day and age when there is a lot of pressure to achieve.
Competition is tough and opportunities are shrinking, so it is the survival of the fittest and if one lags behind and there is no support or guidance, chance of getting carried away with emotions are high. Lack of communication with parents and peers can lead to lack of coping resources. Impulsive behaviour may arise and uncertainty of future can also bring a period of self-doubt and feelings of inferiority and isolation.
New overwhelming feelings may be threatening enough to require dramatic ways to assessing control. Many suicidal youths experience family troubles that lead them to doubt their self worth. Too often parents criticize the child rather than the behaviour. Drug, alcohol abuse and violence is also quiet common now in young generation due to undue exposure of children at a tender age to uninhibited violence and sexuality via TV. Their impressionable minds at this crucial age are unable to explain logically such situations and as a result they take strange steps.
Home environment therefore has a bearing on the child’s overall attitude. The scenario is indeed scary. With growing stress in the society, the role of parents has become more important and rearing a child is no longer easy. The children need to be given a patient hearing, and a close, yet not suffocating watch to avoid such tragic incidents.
As per the Who fact file, for every successful suicide there are about 20 cases of attempted suicide. Ending one’s life is after all not an easy task and requires desperation, courage and tact. In the last 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60 per cent world wide. The situation is worsening in our country day by day. If one picks up any newspaper one is bound to see a few reports regarding suicide. And these are the successful ones. The unsuccessful ones which are more in number go unnoticed.
Although there is exact statistical figure of successful and attempted suicides, the figure would be in its thousands. Another interesting point is that 10 years back, we used to get more young girls attempting suicide, either because of emotional instability or social reasons. This they usually did by ingesting a chemical and landing in a public hospital. However, now young males have taken over.
Not many cases are reported in the media, for fear of embarrassment and social outrage. If reported at all, suicide must be handled delicately and should be straight forward to minimize the likelihood of imitation for new methods keep getting evolved.
It’s high time that we should carefully review the situation. Our aims should be at finding out things that works best in terms of preventing suicide and overcoming obstacles to ensure that things that work best are actually incorporated into the regular activities of health, education welfare and other agencies. Focus should be on public education, prevention of elderly suicide and promotion of mental health in young people.
In this context psychiatrists have an important role to play. Referral to a psychiatrist for any indication should be taken seriously. At the same time, in a broad category as in our society, the misconception is that a psychiatrist is there only to treat a paagal. A team of psychiatrists and physicians should work in collaboration for the establishment of surveillance system for completed suicides as well as for suicide attempts as the latter group is more at risk. Benefits of such systems could be potentially great.
Its essential that we must be alert to the signs of suicidal tendency: changes in eating or sleeping habits, hyperactivity, being accident prone and aggressiveness, sudden loss of interest in prized possessions, apathy, guilt, self-hate, substance abuse and anxiety. Anxiety is a normal part of everyday living, however, it is abnormal when it becomes overwhelming and interferes with daily living.
Suicide doesn’t have to happen, it can be prevented and we all can help. Parents should spend more time with their children in order to help them in building their character and behaviour. Religion plays an important role in building a person’s moral side. Declining influence of religion in society parallells with the decline of society itself as record number of youths are falling prey to drugs, crime, homicide, illiteracy and suicide. The weakening of religious spirit has led to moral and sexual irresponsibility and catastrophic results, and has created real havoc. We should understand the need of religion to reassert its traditional responsibility for preserving and protecting the well-being of citizens.
Government should provide opportunities for jobs. NGOs and the affluent of the society can help the government in this regard. If suicide prevention is to be successful it must address the biological, cognitive and social problems the patient is suffering from.
RECENT suicide cases among people have received national attention and public concern. Unfortunately, the understanding required by this important issue is far from complete. There are many risk factors and triggers associated with it and is also directly related to psychopathology, personality traits and family /social factors. How these factors interact and what leads to the final act of suicide, is what we need to find out.
