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Facts about suicide

By:  Shirin Akbar Rajan

Suicide is a topic of enormous complexity that has both fascinated and frightened man through centuries. Philosophers, theologians, sociologists, psychologists and poets have all written about suicide. Most amazingly all these literary work have come from people living in different eras, different places and almost all carry different perspective. The most curious aspect of suicide is its prevention. How as a friend or as a family member we can prevent our dear one from committing suicide. The major obstacle in suicide prevention is not the remedial treatment of the problem but it’s the identification of the problem. The foremost issue which creates a hindrance in identification of the problem, is that suicide, being a taboo topic, has a lot of common misconceptions. These misconception in our mind make it difficult to identify or realize that someone is about to commit suicide and we fail to prevent that suicide from occurring. Therefore it is crucial for suicide prevention that these misconceptions about suicide should be identified and dispelled.

One such misconception is that suicide happens without warning. A Research done by Royal Park Hospital (2000) shows that “eighty percent of suicidal persons give many clues and warnings of their intentions but these warnings are ignored or not identified.” It is important to be aware of these behaviors exhibited by a suicidal person so that upon recognition a life could be saved. According to Merrill (2007) these warning signs include a recent death of a close family member or a friend, depression, bipolar disorder apart from these emotional and mental signs few behavioral signs such as talking about hurting or killing to self for example statements like “I will not be around much longer” or “Does it hurt to die?”, feeling guilty or hopeless over some issue. this may be evident by statements like “I just can not take it anymore ,I am going to end it all”, a sudden expression of being happy which generally comes from the thought that what ever the problems are will end soon with their death and troubled sleep patterns. It is very vital to pick and identify these verbal or non verbal clues and these commonly witnessed signs if observed in behavior of some loved one, so that immediate action can be taken to prevent something irreversible from occurring.

Another common misconception is that suicidal people are fully intent on dying. This is absolutely not true. Individual intent upon killing themselves wishes to be saved or rescued. Research shows that suicide is a completely preventable phenomenon provided that right steps are taken. To prevent a suicide it is necessary to understand that suicidal people are undecided about living or dying, although at some point of their crises they attempt to die but they always want others to save them. According to a research conducted by Mental Health Library of Royal Park Hospital in Parkville Victoria (2000) suicidal crisis can be short lived. The research says that “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem and a practical help such as not leaving the troubled person alone or encouraging them to talk about their problems and helping them out with their future planning may be helpful in averting a suicidal attempt.”

The most prevalent misconception about suicide is that talking about suicide encourages people to do it. Discussion about suicide does not promote suicidal behavior rather it affords a mean of sharing problems, feelings and opinions Ventilating feeling about suicide is therapeutic .If having the misconception in our mind we discourage the discussion on suicide and stop the suicidal person to communicate his problem we are hindering his chances of getting necessary help to prevent the suicide According to Sharon(2007) “Talking about suicide can be a plea for help and can be a sign in the progression towards a suicide attempt .If someone talks about suicide encourage them to talk and help them to find some other appropriate solution of their problem”

Further it is also believed that people are suicidal type. This is an illogical fallacy. There is no one type of person that commits suicide. People of all races, religions, occupations, classes, ages and sexes kill themselves. An expression commonly associated with suicide is given by saying “but he wasn’t the type”. This is an observation by someone who is incorrectly assuming that a person must appear abnormal or mentally ill or come from a particular kind of family with history of suicides, to commit suicide. Researches on this issue show that every individual has potential for suicide and no body is suicidal all the time. The risk of individuals being suicidal varies across times and as circumstances change.

To conclude, it is important to realize that the most pressing problem of suicide prevention is not intervention but identification and prediction of the problem. As suicide has many misconceived and erroneous ideas attached to it therefore often the warnings and behavioral signs are missed and hence prevention of suicide attempts cannot be done. It is very essential that these misconceptions shall be alleviated from the thoughts of a common man and awareness should be given as soon as possible. I would also like to recommend to all the readers that if some one you know, exhibits any warning signs ,verbal or non verbal clues regarding suicide than follow these steps. Do not deny his feeling, or ignore the clues thinking that this person is not suicidal type. Encourage him to talk more on his suicidal ideas .Immediately notify other family members .Ensure that he is not left alone. Remove all sharp objects and other potential hazard from his room that could be used in a suicidal attempts .Help him by talking to him, find out reason for suicide and offer him other alternating solutions to his problems .Always remember, it is by recognizing the warning signs and allowing the person to talk more about suicide, we can prevent a suicide from happening and like this a precious life ca be saved.