Imposition of parents aspirations on children, especially at the nascent level of education may result in depression — claiming their lives later.
In a talk on ‘Suicide prevention;strategies II’ on the third and concluding day of Indo-European symposium on coercion, organised by the department of psychiatry, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC and RI), at J K Grounds here on Sunday, Dr R Mahesh Gowda a consultant psychiatrist of Spandana, Bangalore, said: “best school mania, coupled with long-distance travel and vanished joy of learning and less importance for play time” could prove near fatal for tender minds. Even children too are taking to suicide.
Mahesh said most of the suicide victims tend to end life only to kill the feeling of pain. Souring relationships that result in adultery, divorces and incompatibility are also factors that create a strong urge for death.
Similarly, the changing lifestyle with long working hours, exposure to violence and chaotic traffic could be construed as reasons.
Mahesh said southern states top the suicide rate at more than 15 persons per lakh when compared to northern states, less than three per lakh. Among southern states Karnataka, especially Bangalore city tops at 34 per lakh population with victims in the age group of 15 to 29 years.
Mahesh said, suicide is the 11th casual factor of deaths in India. In 43 per cent of the cases, it’s due to unknown reasons, while in 44 per cent it’s either due to illness or family issues. Age wise victims are in the age group of 15 to 39 years — accounting for 70 per cent deaths.
Gender wise women outnumber men; 25 per cent of suicides are due to hanging, 37 per cent poisoning, 11 per cent self-immolation and nine per cent drowning.
On prevention strategies, Mahesh emphasised on support from family and friends, identifying persons with suicidal tendencies and a patient hearing without frequent interruptions.
Suicide helpline
Spandana Institute for Mental Health launched a dedicated suicide helpline in Bangalore in 2010, and has attended 3,000 calls.
Mahesh remarked that suicide in India is more of a medico-legal problem that health or social problem.
In the lecture preceding Mahesh, Dr Roland Van Der Sande, senior lecturer, master of advanced nursing practice, mental health programme Utrecht University of Applied Science, faculty of health, Netherlands, asserted that ‘Indo-European team work in dealing with the sensitive issue has a future’.
Roland said international collaboration helps refresh practice and can be prevented with low threshold care provision.
Roland mentioned that back home, they have been deploying fast communicating tools like Facebook, Twitter and also SMSes to coordinate with people having suicidal tendencies.
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