September 10 is “World Suicide Prevention Day” (WSPD). It is an international day proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) for raising public awareness of suicides. This year the WSPD is observed all over the world under the theme – ‘Working Together to Prevent Suicide’.
Suicide is an intentional act of killing oneself and is a complex multi-faceted behaviour induced by stresses and predispositions. People commit suicide due to various reasons. When we have a look at any local or foreign newspaper we often see at least one or two items of news relating to suicide. It is said that a person living in anywhere in the world commits suicide every two minutes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 800,000 people die by suicide each year. That is why a special day has been designated to promote global action towards the prevention of suicide, which is said to be the second leading cause of death among young and old alike.
There has been an increase in the number of suicides in the country over the past few years. In view of the scale of the suicides taking place, Sri Lanka is ranked as one of the countries with the high rate of suicides, apart from other countries such as Guyana, South and North Korea, Lithuania, Mozambique, India, Nepal, Tanzania, Burundi, South Sudan where the suicide rates are much higher. Given that the WHO’s statistics, it is indeed a pathetic situation.
Sri Lanka is a country that suffered heavily due to the civil war that spanned for over three decades. During the war period, the rate of suicides was higher, but that scale reduced during the post-war period. The financial hardships and loss of livelihoods caused by war resulted in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among many in the northern parts of the island to a greater extent, and numerous people resorted to suicide, as a result. Likewise, the country was politically and socially in turmoil during the time of JVP insurrection (1987 – 1999).
Social issue
A large number of JVP supporters who were involved in the rebellion were captured, tortured and killed. Many were thought to have committed suicide to evade capture or developed PTSD due to the circumstances that prevailed during that dark era. Though the country is now free from all that, the suicide rate still prevails, and it has more or less become a social issue.
Though Sri Lanka has made strides in other sectors, it is burden with heavy debt, and the majority of the population live below the poverty line. The successive governments that came to power are doing little to eradicate poverty. The cost of living is skyrocketing and the wage one earns may not be sufficient to support a family. It has not been possible for a person to live without getting into debt.
There are stories about persons who killed themselves when they failed to pay off their debt. Also, the story reported about a mother of three who attempted suicide along with her children by jumping before a train some time back is so harrowing when she told that she had to take that final decision because her drunken husband did not care for the family.
While poverty is playing a key role in developing suicide thus, excessive alcohol use, substance abuse and domestic violence are also other contributing factors.
There is a considerable increase in domestic violence in the country, and around 75% of them are reported from rural communities. Eighty-five percent of them involve pesticides. Consuming poison, hanging, shooting, jumping before a train or into a well, immolation is the most common methods used by persons for suicide.
Over the past few months, we came to know about a series of suicide incidents reported in the media. Among them were a few students who got higher grades while some had failed their exams. Those who are unable to succeed in achieving the desired results might get disappointed, depressed and at last attempt suicide. Young lovers commit suicide due to their love affairs. Also, work-related issues, unemployment, loss of jobs, break-ups of marriages, family feuds, divorce, sexual misconduct can be other reasons that may lead to suicide.
According to psychologists, most people who attempt suicide are thought to be afflicted with some kind of acute mental disorders such as depression, which is considered to be the main cause. A person suffering from acute depression is likely to die deliberately. It is a serious mental disorder which involves feelings of fatigue, despair, indifference, apathy and self-deprecatory thoughts. Also, it may exhibit anxiety, agitation, irritability and impulsiveness. A person with these mixed conditions is more likely to take his or her own life. One out of ten in society is said to be afflicted with it. That is, for the most part, due to the present-day lifestyle.
There are things that we normally experience in life – sadness, feeling down, loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities. If these persist over a long period they can be symptoms of depressive disorder. The causes of depression are not fully understood, and it can be a combination of factors such as genetics, biological, environmental, psychological or social. A depressive may say that he is sick at heart and fed up with a living, which can largely be an indication of suicidal behaviour. If a person feels suicidal in this manner, that person should be identified and directed to a psychiatrist for proper psychological care immediately. Especially, middle-aged and the elderly people leading solitary lives are at risk of suicide. The best thing to do when one gets recurrent suicidal thoughts is to visit a counselling centre like ‘Sri Lanka Sumithrayo’, a government-approved charity where well-trained volunteer counsellors are ready to listen to psychological issues and provide immediate solutions.
Suicide bombers
We know about a particular kind of persons trained to kill themselves and also others. They are called suicide bombers, who are members of banned terrorist outfits. These brainwashed, cold-blooded killers are prepared to carry out their terrorist leaders’ orders to assassin the opponents as well as innocent civilians relentlessly. But suicide bombers do not come under this category as their vision is different. Also, we have heard of self-immolations, which mean killing oneself by burning – may be as a way of expressing displeasure at something inappropriate that is going on or for some other reasons.
Way back in 1963, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk called Thich Quang Duc burned himself to death at a busy intersection in Saigon in protest against the South Vietnamese Diem regime’s pro-Catholic policies.
Similarly, a certain Sri Lankan Buddhist monk performed self-immolation near the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy a couple of years back in protest against the mass slaughter of cattle that takes place in the vicinity of the sacred city. We do not know if these monks’ brave acts could put a stop to those things once and for all. Also, our soldiers too made supreme sacrifices for the motherland to free the nation from terrorism. However, these acts are regarded as supreme sacrifices intended for the well-being of the nations though they are acts of suicide.
Above all, the thing to remember here is that our life is more precious and suicide is not an option.
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