THATTA, March 12: Psychiatrists have counted acute sense of deprivation of collective and individual rights, depression, complexes and misconceived and twisted view of religion among the main reasons driving people to commit suicide in the country.

Speaking at a seminar on "Increasing trends of suicide" organised by the People’s Doctors Forum (PDF) at the press club on Sunday noted psychiatrists Syed Haroon Ahmed, PDF provincial head Dr Karim Khwaja, Dr Naeem Siddiqui and Dr Ismail Palijo claimed that actual number of suicide incidents was more than what was reported in the media.

They said that according to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation more than one million people commit suicide and 121 million become victims of stress and depression each year across the world. If the situation was left unchecked, every second person of the world would become a patient of stress, depression and heart by 2020, they warned and advised the government to address root causes behind suicide.

Desperate and deprived youngsters often destroy their lives with their own hands by following a twisted view of religion preached by semi-literate clerics but the main reasons even in such cases were depression and deprivation, they said.

However, the number of people suffering from stress and depression was considerably low in China and Pakistan as compared to Europe, they said and urged the government to make amendments to the law on suicide taking into consideration rising suicide incidents amongst youngsters in Pakistan and stop police from filing an FIR against the one who attempted to commit suicide.

Earlier, the PDF psychiatrists checked some 500 patients at a medical camp and distributed free of charge medicines.