Alarming Prevalence of Suicide
According to World Health Organisation, yearly, about 800,000 people die from suicide. Chiemelie Ezeobi writes that the World Suicide Prevention Day, again, brought to the fore, the need to tackle the menance headlong
Communities can; play an important role in suicide prevention, support those who previously made an attempt to take their lives, comfort those who have lost someone to suicide, as well as help fight the stigma associated with suicide
Last year alone, no fewer than 12 suicide cases and five foiled attempts were recorded in Lagos within six months. This year, although there are no well known documented data of deaths caused by suicide, the anomaly is still being witnessed across the nation as statistics showed that Nigeria has the 13th highest suicide mortality rate in Africa, which is per 100,000 population. Globally, this puts Nigeria as the world’s 30th highest suicide rate.
Undoubtedly, suicide cases continue to pose a big problem to both our country and international bodies. This is because despite the fact that the two major religions- Christianity and Islam, preach against this bizarre act of ending one’s own life, it still happens. Asides religion, suicide is a criminal offence that even traditions and culture are also against.
Yet, this act is on the increase in the country with people hanging theirselves to jumping into the lagoon, or through the intake of dangerous poison and deadly substances. With the World Suicide Prevention day being commemorated this September, it brings to the fore the deadly ailment that musn't be treated with kids gloves.
As alarming as it sounds, the reality as revealed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that 800,000 people die from suicide around the world every year. The body also stated that suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst 15-29-year olds.
Also, the National Alliance on Mental Illness put out its statistics too. According to the alliance, 54 per cent of people who die by suicide had no known mental health condition, neither were they diagnosed or open about it.
They also noted that other risk factors that cause suicide can stem from trauma or abuse, isolation, stress, access to firearms or substance abuse.
WHO Statistics A break down of statistics from WHO states that 800,000 people die from suicide around the world every year. This means that one person die every 40 seconds and for every suicide, 20 plus others have attempted suicide. The body also stated that 79 per cent of suicide victims live in low- or middle-income countries, which means that 21 per cent live in high-income countries.
However, the figure for this year is a sharp decline from the 2012-2013 statistics. The 2012-2013 statistics from WHO shows that no fewer than a million people die annually from suicide, which represents a global mortality rate of 16 people per 100,000 or one death every 40 seconds. More disturbing also is the fact that there are an estimated 10 to 20 million attempted suicides every year.
WHO also reported that suicide is the second cause of death among young people between15-29 years in 2012. In 1990, it resulted in 712,000 deaths and rose to 842,000 in 2013 making it the 10th leading cause of death worldwide. WHO’s in 2012 statistics also show that out of Nigeria’s population, 6.5per cent committed suicide out of which 10.3 per cent are male and 2.9 per cent are female.
Commemorating World Suicide Prevention Day Thus, the World Suicide Prevention Day provided the needed opportunity to shine light of the menance, as well as posit solutions. According to WHO, communities can; play an important role in suicide prevention, support those who previously made an attempt to take their lives, comfort those who have lost someone to suicide, as well as help fight the stigma associated with suicide.
Support for Suicide Victims Lending their voice, Support for Victims, an advocacy group said: "On this #WorldSuicidePreventionDay, remember that your mental health is just as important as your physical health - and crime can affect both. If you're struggling with the impact of a crime, we're here for you. Please don't suffer in silence #ItsOkayToTalk."
Medical Perspective According to UK-based Dr. Chin Akano, a psychiatrist, it was usually better to seek for help as soon as possible when one is depressed. The doctor said some of the common risk factors that leads to suicide include depression, severe anxiety, acute stress due to any reason, severe adjustment reaction, drug and alcohol abuse, side effect of certain prescribed medication eg certain anti- depressants, psychotic illnesses eg schizophrenia, other mental illness like mania and personality disorders, previous suicide attempt and family history of suicide, Cultural and religious beliefs and lack of supportive social cycle.
In a lengthy post shared online by the doctor at the height of last year's suicidal trend, he picked depression as one of the most common causes of suicide, adding that the symptoms can be identified when one feels low for most of the time for at least two weeks or when one experiences lack of pleasure in doing things, especially things that you used to enjoy and again this has to be most of the time for up to two weeks ( known as anhedonia).
He listed other symptoms as when one gets tired so easily, poor sleep or sleeping too much, poor appetite or over eating, poor sex drive/libido, erectile dysfunction, lack of concentration that makes doing common things a chore, poor self hygiene, poor or reduced motivation, feeling that you have let yourself, family or friends down, feeling that life is no longer worth living that you may feel like hurting or killing yourself and you may also start hearing voices telling you that you are useless, dirty, failure or even telling you to harm or kill yourself.
He said, "If you or a loved one have a few of these symptoms, they are likely to be suffering from depression and must seek help urgently. There are available ways to help them. These may be in form of counseling and other forms of psychotherapy including cognitive- behavioural therapy CBT. This may be the only treatment they require especially in reactive depression where the stressful event is known.
"They could need medications known as antidepressants . Most of them especially the newer ones SSRI and SNRI work if taken regularly at approximately same time for several months. It may take a couple of weeks before the benefits are noticeable. I can assure you that they do work. You may also require both psychotherapy and anti-depressants
"If you are hearing voices or displaying some psychotic tendencies, anti-psychotics like Seroquel , Olanzapine may be added. In very severe cases of depression or in psychotic depression like above where immediate response is required, you may receive shock treatment known as electro-convulsive therapy ECT. This is hardly administered these days but it works. Personally when I was a senior trainee in psychiatry In the UK I administered that treatment on several hopeless cases and I saw them transform overnight."
Hotline for Suicide Cases Who would have thought that suicide cases would become very incessant that a hotline for suicide cases in Nigeria would need to be put in place? Well, since the trend seems to be on the rise, some certain persons created two hotlines to attend to suicidal persons (08062106493and 08092106493), but despite these hotlines, suicide cases still abound.