Depression
Fanning the rise of suicide
IT was a devastating news for Bob to learn that his stepdaughter Anne took her life in their home in the US.
He had no inkling what his stepdaughter was going through as Anne was at the peak of her career and still very young in her late 20s. She was beautiful, about to tie the knot with her equally successful and handsome beau, and had a healthy circle of friends. In fact, she was a volunteer of a cause-oriented group where she got to travel to different third-world countries which needed assistance and volunteer groups.
Naturally, Bob did not see it coming.
Suicide is one of the most dreaded effects of depression.
Depression, according to American Psychiatric Association website is a "common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how one feels, the way one thinks and how one acts." It is highly treatable. "Depression causes feelings of sadness and/ or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home."
Dr. Bihildis Mabunga, chairperson of the Southern Philippines Medical Center's Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, said depression may be called a subjective disorder since it tackles one's emotion.
"When you ask a patient, how do you feel today? He says, I feel depressed. That is why we can say it's subjective," Mabunga said.
However, depression can already be called "abnormal or pathological" when it already hinders one's ability to function normally at home, school or even work.
"When it already affects
your eating, sleeping, or your normal routine, then that's the time we say it's already abnormal," she added.
Dr. Mabunga added that depression and suicide usually go together, thus the need for depressive people to be assessed thoroughly.
“When someone is severely depressed, usually he or she becomes suicidal,” she said.
The lady doctor, who also has a private clinic, revealed that at SPMC’s psychiatry institute alone, 60 out of 100 who seek medical advice there are suffering from depression. The institute caters not just to Region 11. Their patients come from as far as Zamboanga, Agusan, Butuan and even Cagayan de Oro.
“In my private clinic alone I get five people who are suffering from depression everyday out of maybe nine or 10 patients. This still comprises 50% to 60% depressive people who visit me every day,” she said.
However, not all of the 60% patients are admitted at the institute because they only admit those who are already suicidal. This does not mean that the rest will be brushed off.
Not all depressed persons are suicidal, but most who commit suicide are depressed.
In the World Health Organization data, it re- corded one suicide case in every 40 seconds, globally.
In the records at the Police Regional Office 11, it shows that there is an increasing trend in suicide case in Davao region with only 54 in the year 2016 to 81 last year.
Davao City recorded to have the highest number of suicide incidents with 25 in 2016 to 38 last year. It is followed by the province of Davao del Norte with three in 2016 to 13 in 2017; Davao del Sur with nine to 11 in the same period; Compostela Valley with eight to nine; and Davao Occidental with five to eight, also in the same period.
It’s only in Davao Oriental where suicide cases were recorded to have decreased, with four in 2016 down to two last year.
However, Police Chief Inspector Andrea dela Cerna, former PRO 11 spokesperson, clarified during a phone interview that what they have are the reported cases and that the cause are no longer part of the report.
“Ang ginakuha lang namo ma’am ang insidente, mao na naka-blotter, pero kung depressive ba ang usa ka tao nga nagsuicide wala na mi kabalo ana, (What we only get is the incident (report for the blotter), but whether the suicide victim is depressive we don’t know about it anymore,” she said.
According to an online medical team, WebMD, suicide is preventable, and we only need to distinguish the clues that someone is suicidal.
“People who take their lives don’t want to die, but to end their pain,” as quoted in WebMD.
So if someone talks about it, it should not be dismissed as a mere threat or someone who just needs special attention. He or she might really need help.
“It’s a psychiatric problem,” Dr. Mabunga said of suicidal people.
She differentiates two kinds of people who harm or kill themselves: those who are severely depressive and those who are psychotic.
She said those people who are severely depressed commits suicide with intent to really kill themselves, unlike those who are psychotic who only do something on themselves or to others because they follow their hallucinations.
Mabunga, who is working in the institute since 1990, notes that young adolescents, male, and those who were rich but suddenly became poor are the group of people where depression is most common.
“Male because the risk factors usually – despair or hopelessness, love life, loss of job, lack of social support, stressful life experience, you perceive that you’re burden to others or even the media has depiction on suicide or anger or revenge, bullying. These factors usually hit the male, and the young ones because they usually do drugs, reckless behaviors, adventurous,” she said.
Aside from that, males are not as expressive as women and genetics studies would also show that male really is more prone to depression than female, she added.
There is one strong factor, however, that she said one must be aware of: the family history.
“Meaning it’s genetics. If you have a family history of suicides, you are prone to severe depression, mataas ang genetic factors.”
"Seek professional help, to address their complaints in life in a way we properly address it," she said.
So what does our institute do with regards to depression problem?
“We do the screening test here in the institute,” she said.
This is done to assess the patients whether they are severely depressive or psychotic. In this way, medical and professional intervention can be done properly as what Dr. Mabunga often stressed: “Suicide is preventable.”
That’s why for her, if one of the patients committed suicide in the hospital, it’s negligence already for the medical professionals’ part, because they are there to prevent depressed people from killing themselves.