Prevention could be done through different strategies like mental treatment, proper guidance and counseling, hopes and reducing all factors which compel individuals to commit suicide.
Kiran Javed
Suicide means the act of ending one’s own life. The act of intentionally causing one’s own death has got so many different reasons which vary from person to person. The act of killing himself/herself mostly happen because of stress such as having financial and academic problems, relationship problems, breakup or divorce, harassment and bullying cases, blackmailing someone whether mentally or physically.
In the same way, cases vary from country to country. The record shows that in developing countries the cases occur 1.5% whereas in developed countries it’s 3.5% which has got different reasons. According to the 2015 record of suicide cases, some 82, 8000 cases were reported globally, the 10th leading cause of death, which means 1.5% deaths are caused by suicide globally.
The research also shows that the higher rate of suicide is among men than women. In western world, most of the persons committing suicide are of 15 to 30 years of age. It was recorded that there are an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal suicide attempts which lead to long term injuries and disabilities.
Suicide is religiously considered wrong, and in some countries it’s a crime and morally wrong to end one’s own life but in Japan it is considered as means of failure and sometimes a protest which is known as “Seppuku”. In India, it would be a custom that widow will end her life at the funeral of her husband whether with her own will or by being under pressure which was known as “Sati”.
In rare cases what happens – people burn themselves when they are not given justice just in order to show the world that we are not given justice or we want justice, as in Sindh province of Pakistan’s history Mai Jindo’s daughters set themselves on fire in front of court in order to draw the attention of public on their case, and that their case is taken slightly, just because of corrupt system. As a result of setting themselves ablaze, they succeeded to draw public attention leading to get the justice.
If we talk about the causes of suicide, we’ll find multiple reasons which lead an individual to commit suicide and end his/her life. Here are few of them:
- Mental stress or disorder: Most of suicide cases happen because of mental stress and suppressed feelings as someone is having and has got nobody to share the problem or ask help/guidance, so the person thinks of only one thing which really satisfies himself/herself is to end his/her life which they consider as end of every problem.
- Financial issues or lack of job opportunities: In this modern world, meeting basic needs of family has become the biggest issue. When the man finds himself surrounded by so many financial problems and is unable to solve them he decides to end his life which he considers the freedom from every problem. This mostly happens in poor countries where government does not play its role and providing the basic facilities and job opportunities.
- Academic issues/difficulties: Well, in backward countries ( poor in educational system ) like India and Pakistan where there is no proper educational system, where students are bound and are considered as successful or best student on a condition to get good grades even if teachers does not have a proper way to teach them but still we expect them to get good marks and where the teachers does not teach friendly to students and just keeps on pressuring the students which make students to take a wrong decision/step.
- Divorce and break-ups: These kinds of cases happen in developing countries where the students are not given proper education about these kind of things, that what we should do in these kind of situations or how to manage them.
- Harassment/blackmailing: Not just in our country but in India and other different countries which are backward in educational system, whose judiciary system is weak, whose most of departments are corrupt, whose educational institutes are full of yahoos, who use students just to fulfill their worst desire, who has got no feelings that they are destroying the life of innocent students and where system helps them to easily get themselves out from them cases and situation.
How to prevent suicide attempts
Off course nothing is impossible in this world, in the same way suicide is preventable. It depends on the role of individuals, community and society. Prevention could be done through different strategies as giving mental treatment, proper guidance and counseling, hopes and in last reducing all factors which compel individuals to commit suicide.
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Kiran Javed is BS English Student at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Nawabshah
