Within the last few decades we have tried hard enough and also have succeeded to a great extent in achieving things that seemed impossible in the past. While it was unimaginable even in our dreams to think of a device that could let us talk to our loved ones who lived miles away, now we have reached a point where we can touch a piece of glass and make things happen. While generating current was a huge challenge at some point of time, now we store it in our houses. The advancement in Science and Technology has taken a great leap in the past few years and its reflections can be clearly seen through the improvements in other sectors like manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, machineries, health, medicines etc. Even if we look at the average earning of a person with the same designation, that has also seen some raise when compared to the past.

Though it appears the very world around us is advancing and evolving at some real pace, something in the way isn’t proving the same. While the above sectors have no doubt shown improvements to great extents, something within us remains unclear, not understood and unaddressed throughout the journey.

Yes, we are talking about an alarming situation in the world and in our country itself, which is called as suicide. As the world dedicates the day (10^th September) as the World Suicide Prevention Day to spread the awareness to prevent such harsh steps taken by individuals, this article is a small contribution towards the same.

DATA ANALYSIS

To understand the current scenario regarding the topic, we have some data and statistics that completely contradict some of our strong beliefs.

1. Global statistics of suicides by youth in 2016 (Source- WHO)

• Suicide victims in India by gender and age groups in 2019.

• The graph below shows the number of suicide cases in India over the years 1971-2019.

• Percentage of suicide victims by Educational level during 2016-2018 in India. (Source : NCRB )

CONCLUSIONS FROM THE ABOVE DATA

• GRAPH 1 –Globally, the highest number of suicide victims belong to the age group 18-29 years (Youth).

• GRAPH 2 – Similar trend is seen in India as well. Suicides are more common amongst the youth belonging to the age groups of 18-30 and 30-45 years.

• GRAPH 3 – It makes clear that when compared to the times from past when science and technology, businesses, manufacturing, industries, health, pharmaceuticals,  etc were way behind from the modern world that we live in, the number of suicide cases were way much less than the present scenarios. We see along with the surge in development in various sectors, the cases of suicides have also seen some sharp surge over time.

• GRAPH 4 – The graph makes clear that suicide cases are more seen amongst the educated people than in uneducated people.

No. of Suicides by Educated People > No. of Suicides by Uneducated People

REASONS BEHIND SUICIDES

To find the possible ways and solutions to deal with the situation, understanding the problem itself must be the first step.

The surveys and data collected says most of the suicide cases are due to depression/anxiety, relationships/love affairs, unemployment, social status, family status, peer pressure, failure in examination, professional/career problems etc. But that’s only what appears from outside while the real reason still remains unaddressed. For an example if downfall in the social status is an actual reason behind suicides, then why do successful, well established and famous persons commit suicides?

Moreover if we end our search at these reasons and start treating them, it might prevent few suicides from happening for a moment, but it gives no assurance that the triggers won’t recur in the victim’s life in the future. It also doesn’t save others who are healthy for now from falling into such a trap of mental health condition.

Further researches and surveys show that most of the suicide cases are due to personal reasons (depression, failure in exams, fall in fame/social status, love affairs, etc). If this is further broken down, we understand that in almost all cases, overwhelming thoughts and emotions raised by some situations in an individual’s life are the one, that a person finds inescapable and unsolvable, leading them to take such harsh steps.

So, the approach to address the situation for a solution must be towards dealing these underlying reasons (emotions and thoughts) from an early period of life.

OTHER LOOPHOLES

LATE TREATMENT- Often the cases related to mental health conditions are taken to professionals when it has crossed some extent. I believe this happens more in India. This not only increases the sufferings of the patient but also makes the treatment more difficult.

SOCIAL MYTHS – People often confuse anxiety and depression as madness and that’s why initially when the symptoms are less, they prefer to treat it by themselves rather than visiting a professional. Such delay in treatment can lead to more serious conditions and adverse effects.

SOLUTIONS

As the reasons behind suicides are more personal and emotional, the approach for a solution should be more towards educating people regarding Mental Health from an early age, along with medical treatments. 

As it is clear from the above statistics and discussions that suicides are mostly seen amongst the youth belonging to age group of 18-30 years, the solutions must be implemented before this period of life.

1. INTRODUCING MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.

Throughout the school and college life students are taught about solving equations of mathematics and science, but when it comes to mood, emotions and something related to mind, we often hear our elders saying “don’t think about all these, just concentrate on your studies”.

We are taught well enough about the ways to sharpen our mind, but nothing about implementation of that sharpness except studies. But the truth is sharpening the mind doesn’t make it open to good things only; it also makes the door wide open for other things as well.

Now this needs to be taken more seriously by our Education System. The following are few ideas –

• Introducing MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION subject from teenage.
• Teaching problem-solving approaches to students through MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION.
• Teaching students the mechanism of thoughts, emotions and actions. Hence teaching the ways to deal with them. 
• Teaching students to practice self-analyzation.
• Teaching emotion management and anger management ways.
• Understanding Depression/Anxiety and other mental health conditions.

­­­­Most importantly the subject of Mental Health Education shouldn’t be something like a crash course or one time course. It must go on from classes to classes just like other subjects. The chapters and approaches should keep changing with the age of the students and their classes.

• UNDERSTANDING ANXIETY/ DEPRESSION and EARLY TREATMENT –

Understanding the mental health conditions can help individuals to get it treated from the initial phases.

Some of the simple initial symptoms can be –

• Hyper-vigilance– Being more than required worried about simple things and events of life in such a manner that it affects your mental state.
• Irritability – Easily getting irritated
• Restlessness – Constantly doing things without a break even when you’re tired. (in a manner that it affects your mental state)
• Racing Thoughts/ Unwanted Thoughts – Disturbing thoughts in loop
• Lack of interest – Losing interest in activities that you once enjoyed.
• Feeling of impending doom – Future appears to be dark and frightening.
• Insomnia – Problems in sleeping.
• Oversleeping and Fatigue – Feeling of not coming out of your bed. Feeling of weakness in the body

The above symptoms are really simple but their long persistence can result into something bothering. You can always feel when these factors start to overwhelm you, affect your mental state and your day to day activities. In such a state, consulting a doctor is highly recommended.

Remember, addressing the symptoms in an early stage helps you the best in long run. The aggravation of the same and late treatment can lead to difficult to worse situations.

• SELF HELP

Independent of all other factors and approaches, this is perhaps the best and most reliable way to understand, manage and nourish your mental health.

This includes some day to day practices –

• Regular exercise
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Investing time into hobbies
• Self analyzation
• Healthy food habit

While it is hard enough to expect these from a person who is already facing some mental health condition, practicing these early when you’re healthy and not facing such situations can always keep you on safer side for the future.

• FAMILY/FRIEND’s SUPPORT

• In a situation regarding mental health, family being the closest to the person holds the highest responsibility and plays a crucial role in helping the patient in his/her recovery.

• Parents and elders need to understand that emotions and mood can be much more dangerous than what they believe. They must know that their ignorance can worsen their children’s condition.

• Friends, who are often more close to a person than family, also hold a responsibility to step ahead in the needed hours. For an example when a person suffering from anxiety doesn’t get help from his/her family, a friend should stand behind and take him/her to a professional when needed.

• ERADICATION OF MYTHS

Believes like “Depression is Madness”, which leads to late treatment and worsen conditions needs to be eradicated.

CONCLUSION

While MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION from an early age and SELF HELP seem to be the two key approaches while addressing depression, anxiety and suicides, our habit of ignorance in the name of busy life can’t be neglected as well. Such negligence is nothing but small steps towards the adverse consequences.

We need to understand that the need of MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION has become such a necessity only because we lost the capability of understanding ourselves somewhere in the race of progress, development and evolution.

P.S- Until and unless we understand, accept and implement before even falling into such a trap; suicide, depression and anxiety will always remain a trendy topic to talk about.

An article by Dhrutikanta Sahoo