Reducing suicide - Society and Culture - Daily Good Morning Kashmir

by Arika Gulzar Gassi

Suicide, derived from the Latin word ‘suicidium’, which means the act of taking one’s own life. Attempted suicide or non-fatal suicidal behavior amounts to self-injury with at least some desire to end one’s life that does not result in death. Assisted suicide occurs when one individual helps another bring about their own death indirectly via providing either advice or the means to the end. This is in contrast to euthanasia, where another person takes a more active role in bringing about a person’s death. Suicidal ideation is thoughts of ending one’s life but not taking any active efforts to do so. It may or may not involve exact planning or intent. In a murder–suicide (or homicide–suicide), the individual aims at taking the lives of others at the same time. A special case of this is extended suicide, where the murder is motivated by seeing the murdered person as an extension of their self. Suicide in which the reason is that the person feels that they are not part of society is known as egoistic suicide.

Social environment includes the conditions in which you are born, grow, work, live, and age and the wider set of forces and systems that shape the conditions of your daily life. The social environment is made up of many elements including family, the groups you belong to, your neighborhood, government policies, and social norms. Your social environment is important because it can provide resources that support your overall quality of life, including your mental health. If you experience a disadvantage in any area of your social environment, it can make it harder to achieve positive mental health because you cannot get the resources you need.

The quality of your mental health can be affected by a wide range of factors in your life. These factors can impact your mental health in positive or negative ways, with some increasing your risk of having mental health difficulties, and others decreasing your risk of having mental health difficulties. Some
factors can be psychological, including your self-esteem and how well you cope with stress, while other factors can be experiences like traumatic life events. Another factor that can shape your mental health is your social environment.

The word discrimination is the root cause of triggering suicidal ideation. Discrimination occurs when a certain group of people are unfairly treated in a way that is worse than how other people are treated in a similar situation, on the basis of a supposed difference.

Different people experience discrimination related to many factors including;

- - Race
  - Appearance
  - Gender
  - Age
  - Disability
  - Sexual Orientation
  - Religion
  - Research shows that experiencing discrimination can be a major source of stress and is linked to mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. No one should ever have to experience discrimination.

The following sections explore many of the social and cultural factors that influence suicide;

- - Family and Other Social Support
  - Marital Status
  - Parenthood
  - Family Discord and Connectedness
  - Social Support
  - Economic Influences and Socioeconomic Status
  - Socioeconomic Status

In 2011, the Centre for Suicide Prevention in Canada found that the normal verb in scholarly research and journalism for the act of suicide was committed. On the other hand, the American Psychological Association lists “committed suicide” as a term to avoid because it frames suicide as a crime. Some advocacy groups recommend using the terms took his/her own life, died by suicide, or killed him/herself instead of committing suicide. The Associated Press Stylebook recommends avoiding “committed suicide” except in direct quotes from authorities. The Guardian and Observer style guides deprecate the use of “committed”, as does CNN. Opponents of ‘commit’ argue that it implies that suicide is criminal, sinful, or morally wrong.

About 800,000 people die by suicide worldwide every year. 164,033 Indians committed suicide in 2021 and the national suicide rate was 12 (calculated per hundred thousand or per lakh), which is the highest rate of deaths from suicides sinc since 1967, which is the earliest recorded year for this data. According to The World Health Organization, in India, suicide is an emerging and serious public health issue.

The good news is that suicide is preventable. Preventing suicide requires strategies at all levels of society. This includes prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities. Everyone can help prevent suicide by learning the warning signs, promoting prevention and resilience,
and committing to social change. CDC’s Suicide Prevention Resource for Action highlights strategies based on the best available evidence to help states and communities prevent suicide.

The following are the listed suicidal prevention strategies,

- - Strengthen economic supports
  - Improve household financial security
  - Stabilize housing
  - Create protective environments
  - Reduce access to lethal means among persons at risk of suicide
  - Create healthy organizational policies and culture
  - Reduce substance use through community-based policies and practices
  - Improve access and delivery of suicide care
  - Cover mental health conditions in health insurance policies
  - Increase provider availability in underserved areas
  - Provide rapid and remote access to help
  - Create safer suicide care through systems change
  - Promote healthy connections
  - Promote healthy peer norms
  - Engage community members in shared activities
  - Teach coping and problem-solving skills
  - Support social-emotional learning programs
  - Teach parenting skills to improve family relationships
  - Retired support resilience through education programs

In the United States, the 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention promotes various specific suicide prevention efforts including:

- - Developing groups led by professionally trained individuals for broad-based support for suicide prevention.
  - Promoting community-based suicide prevention programs.
  - Screening and reducing at-risk behavior through psychological resilience programs that promotes optimism and connectedness.
  - Education about suicide, including risk factors, warning signs, stigma-related issues, and the availability of help through social campaigns.
  - Increasing the proficiency of health and welfare services at responding to people in need. e.g., sponsored training for helping professionals, increased access to community linkages, and employing crisis counseling organizations.
  - Reducing domestic violence and substance abuse through legal and empowerment means are long-term strategies.
  - Reducing access to convenient means of suicide and methods of self-harm. e.g., toxic substances, poisons, handguns.
  - Interventions and usage of ethical surveillance systems targeted at high-risk groups.
  - Improving reporting and portrayals of negative behavior, suicidal behavior, mental illness, and substance abuse in the entertainment and news media.
  - Research on protective factors & development of effective clinical and professional practices.