Written by: Sashwat Paudel - 2022019, Grade X
Posted on: 20 September, 2020
Suicide is the act of taking your own life. A suicide attempt is an effort to end your own life. The word suicide comes from two words “Sui” and “Cide.” Sui denotes oneself and cide is the act of killing something. Combined together, they form the word Suicide. Although suicide is known as killing oneself, accidents are not considered as suicides. A person should have the intent to kill themselves to consider death as a suicide. If someone kills themselves in a car accident, that is not a suicide, it is an accident. If someone kills themselves intentionally by crashing into something, it is considered a suicide.
According to SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voice of Education) Suicide is the 2nd leading cause for deaths in the age group of 15-24 years and nearly 800,000 people die by suicide each year and that accounts for roughly one death every year. 79% of the suicide occurred in low income generating countries, but it is a global problem.
If we look at the numbers alone, it is a huge problem in the context of the whole world. So why do people take their own lives and why at this high rate? The answer to this question is not universal. There can be many reasons why a person might commit suicide. Some of the reasons are cultural and religious beliefs, hopelessness, alcohol or drug abuse, mental illness such as depression. These are only a small amount of reasons as to why a person might consider taking their own life. The factors affecting suicide drastically differs from place to place. In very rural areas, suicide may not be a problem, but an honor that people crave for. We should know that a person doesn’t try to kill themselves after a bad day. It's a chain of reactions that leads to a sinister end. Depression is the word synonymous with suicidal thoughts. When a person is depressed, they have the tendency to keep themselves far away from their peers, which leaves them completely alone, which eliminates any chance of helping them before it’s too late. Ethnicity and background also come into play in the context of suicide. According to SAVE the people LGBTQIA+ community have much higher tendencies of attempting suicide at some point in their lives. A study found that 41% of transsexual adults (transitioning or fully transitioned) had attempted suicide at some point in their life. What comes as a surprise is that youngsters of the LGBTQIA+ community whose family don’t accept them are 8 times more likely to commit suicide. Imagine the pain, the horror, and the fear of being abandoned by your parents for being yourself.
So, how can we solve this problem? There can be no magical solution to this problem. The statistics show that people of the LGBTQIA+ community commit suicide a lot more than other people do. The reason behind this is the society not welcoming them as a normal member of the community. Being gay, or bisexual is not a person’s fault. It is who they are at the core. But the toxic environment they grow up in which dictates that only heterosexual relationships are legit and dismiss people of other sexual orientation labeling it as a sin, and, as a fact, if you or I were to be in that environment, we would share the same fate. The pressure from society is too hard to hold for these people.
We all are human beings. We are social creatures that cannot live without one another’s help. We should remember that all of us are the same and even we can have suicidal thoughts. When we get these kinds of thoughts, we as human beings, cannot think or take decisions properly. So the best thing to do when we do get these feelings is to refer to a friend or seek any kind of help. People should also not joke and laugh about these things. When a friend says they need help, the person should listen to them no matter what, or, provide them companionship and give them hope. Just listening quietly without any judgement can be quite helpful. Throw away your prejudices, do not dismiss their thoughts just because you have not dealt with them. Be empathetic, be kind. Treat mental health issues with just as much concern and attention you would for a physical injury. There are many organizations ready to help people who have suicidal thoughts. Many people think that when a person makes up their mind to attempt suicide, they can not be stopped. This is not true. A person who is suffering from hopelessness can always be brought back from that state.
