Suicide : Risk, Awareness And Prevention

The word suicide sends shivers to our body and if somebody from our family or friend circle commits suicide, it leaves an empty hole in our heart; one keeps on thinking about the unanswered questions often blaming oneself.

Suicide is taking up one’s own life and is quite a commonly seen thing in people in a depressive state. Though it’s not necessary that people who are in depressiondefine can only take up their life, so do people with other reasons. But it has been estimated that 50% of the people who attempt suicide or complete the act, do so during or in the recovery phase of a depressive episode.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in people between the ages of 10 and 24 years in America and second leading cause of death in Canada. In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60 percent worldwide. WHO estimates that nearly 1 million people will die by suicide each year. By the age of 18 years, one in 20 youths will have made a suicide attempt. Suicide is at par with the road accident toll as a preventable cause of premature death.

Studies have found that the major risk factors of suicide among adolescents are depression, substance abuse, behavior problems, availability of a gun, family history of mental disorders, previous suicide attempts and a recent traumatic event such as death of family member or friend etc.

The method of suicide can be relatively non-violent such as taking poison or overdose of a drug or violence such as shooting oneself with a gun. Men are more likely to opt violent methods, which probably accounts for the fact that suicide attempts by men are more likely to be completed. Many suicides involve a firearm. In US and Western countries, women are three to four percent more likely to attempt suicide than men.

Awareness:

If you are suicidal or someone you know is, remember that help is available and recovery is possible. Studies show that early detection and better mental health-care for young people will not only improve recovery but will halve suicide rates.

Warning Signs:

• Appearing depressed or sad, most of the time
• Feeling of hopelessness
• Withdrawing from family and friends
• Sleep trouble
• Fatigue
• Wight loss or weight gain
• Making negative statements such as ‘ I am worthless.”, “Everyone wold be better off without me.”, “I want to die.”
• Not taking interest in normal activities such as school, home etc
• Change in personality
• Feeling of guilt or shame
• Frequently complaining of headaches or stomaches
• Inability to concentrate
• Substance abuse
• Irritable most of the time
• Being preoccupied with death or dying
• Behaving recklessly
• Change in personal appearance dramatically
• Giving away prized possession especially by an adolescent
• Making a will
• Loss of loved ones or any other traumatic event
• Direct or indirect threats to commit suicide
• Impulsiveness

Risk group:

• People who live alone have higher tendency of committing suicide.

• Female physician and female psychologist, both are at much higher risk, around three times more than women of general population; male physicians have suicide rate about twice that of men in general population.

• Individuals who have attempted suicide in the past are at greatest risk. Approximately seventy five percent of those who commit suicide have made at least one prior attempt. Family and friends need to keep an eye and support such people, especially in the time of stress.

• Not only people with mood disorders, divorced or separated, commit suicide but, there is another group of adults who are also among high risk group. These include people with schizophrenia or alcoholism, which are the two other forms of psychopathology most commonly associated with this heinous act.

Prevention:

Doctors and psychologists advice giving a patient ear to such people as it will not only help them relieving their tensions, but one can actually stop them taking such extreme steps.

If a person talks to you about attempting suicide, you must always take the comments seriously. Assuming that the person is only seeking attention is a very serious and potentially disastrous mistake. Get help immediately by calling the local emergency number (such as 911). Do not leave the person alone even after phone contact with mental health professional has been made.

Do not show your emotion (shock of course) while talking to such person because if you get distressed, the person will get more distressed, so stay calm and talk with him or her in a calm manner. But do call emergency number and get help. Be extra careful while talking to such persons as your negative statement can aggravate the situation.

Let the person talk to you and listen without interrupting, sometimes, simply talking to a sympathetic, nonjudgmental listener is enough to prevent the person from attempting suicide. Due to this very reason, suicide prevention centers have telephone "hotline" services.