September 10: World Suicide Prevention Day 

Suicide is increasing in the younger generation due to the influence of the social media, peer pressure, alcohol and drug usage.

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Suicide:

• “Suicide” is derived from the Latin word for “self murder”.
• It is a final act that represents the person’s wish to die.
• There is a range, however, between thinking about suicide and acting it out.
• Some persons have the idea of suicide but they will never act on it; some plan for days, weeks or even years before acting out.
• Others take their lives seemingly on an impulse, without premeditation.
• Lost in definition are intentional misclassification of cause of death, accidents of undermine cause and the so-called chronic suicides.
• For example: death through alcohol and other substance abuse.
• consciously poor adherence to medical regimes for diabetes, obesity & hypertension.

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Men commit suicides more than four times as often as women:

• Men commit suicides more than four times as often as women.
• However, women are four times more likely to attempt suicide than men.
• The men’s higher rate of completed suicides is because of the methods
• They use  firearms, hanging or jumping from heights. Women more commonly take overdoses of psychoactive substances or poison.

Common method of suicide:

• Globally, the most common method of suicide is hanging.
• The suicide rate increases with age and underscores the significance of the midlife crisis.
• Among men, suicides peak after 45 and among women after 55.
• The suicide rate, however, is rising more rapidly among young males and females aged 15-25 due to parental pressure.
• Singles, divorced, never married, widowers and widows are more prone to commit suicide.
• Persons who commit so-called “anniversary suicides” take their life on the day a member of the family died.
• Unemployment is another risk factor.
• Among doctors it is the anesthetists followed by psychiatrists who commit the most suicides.
• Climate also has impact: that is why the suicide belt mostly includes the Scandavian countries.
• Physical afflictions like cancer and HIV increase the risk.
• In mental illnesses, suicide is high in schizophrenics.
• In addition,those with depressive disorders, dementia and delirium, or those addicted to alcohol and drugs.
• Suicide attempts are common in personality disorders.
• The causes would be social factors like peer pressure, the Blue Whale challenge and stress.
• Sensitive people, people who can’t control themselves and teenagers who yield to other pressures.
• Like what is today happening in case of deaths reported due to the Blue Whale challenge are at risk of commiting suicide.
• Suicide also runs in families (genetic factor).
• “Para-suicidal” is a term introduced to describe patients who injure themselves through self-mutilation but usually they do not wish to die.

Prevention:

• To prevent suicides in society, everybody has to observe their family members, classmates, colleague’s behavioral changes.
• Usually the person who wants to commit suicide will always give hints to their near and dear ones.
• So once we notice this, we have to talk to them empathetically and approach a psychiatrist.
• Treatment can be done with anti-depressants, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychotherapy and electro-convulsive therapy (shock treatment) in severely depressed persons.