27/07/2019 - Health

IAS Parliament 7 years

KEY POINTS

· According to the World Health Organization (WHO), for every 100,000 women, about 16 women take their own lives.

· By the data available, India’s suicide rate for women is the sixth highest in the world. About a decade ago, a bulk of young female deaths in the country were attributed to child-bearing and related causes.

· The Lancet series, the last such extensive study on suicides in India, placed the death toll of suicide in 2010 at 187,000.

· The two mental ill health conditions most often associated with suicide are alcoholism and depression. Amongst the young, the commonest causes seem related to academic performance, and a “let down" in romance.

· Other factors stem from opportunity deficits and disadvantages determined by caste, economic and other forms of social inequity, political ideology, domestic violence, bullying, harassment and chronic diseases, among others.

· So government needs to declare suicides as public health crisis as soon as possible.

Measures to reduce suicides

· While there are no quick and easy solutions to the deep-rooted societal problems that are linked to suicide, there are things that each one of us can do to prevent a friend, a co-worker, a family member, a neighbour, and an acquaintance from taking the step.

· The first of these is to be more responsive to people in our immediate environment. This includes stopping by and checking on that friend who has been a little withdrawn lately, offering an ear to someone who needs to vent.

· Psychosocial interventions have been found to be beneficial for individuals who have attempted suicide. It has been observed that these interventions have dissuaded several individuals from making another attempt.

· Psychotherapy or Talk Therapy is one such type of psychosocial intervention that can effectively reduce suicide risk.

· This can help people learn new ways of dealing with stressful experiences through training;

· help individuals recognize their own thought patterns and consider alternative actions when thoughts of suicide arise;

· reduce the rate of suicide among people with borderline personality disorder, a serious mental illness characterized by unstable moods, relationships, self-image, and behaviour.

· In order to address the immense need for viable mental health care services, there is also a need to develop scalable and evidence-based models of care across the country through collaborations and partnerships.

· These models, once endorsed by the government, can be replicated across India. The Maharashtra government’s partnership with Tata Trusts on mental health initiatives in Nagpur is one such example.

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