NANFeatures/Vol.11/No.59/2017 (April 11)
Curbing the increasing cases of suicide
By Femi Ogunshola, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
On many occasions, concerned persons have sought to know what can cause someone to commit suicide even as the World Health Organisation reports increase cases of suicide, announcing that 800,000 people commit it every year across the world.
Recently, in Nigeria for instance, Dr Orji Allwell, medical personnel, committed suicide by jumping off the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
The following day, another woman attempted to take her life by jumping into the lagoon in Lagos but she was rescued.
An eye witness said the woman was trekking and got to the middle of the bridge, climbed the rail and jumped.
Concerned citizens have, therefore, asked why should a medical doctor with his status or a citizen with lower status in the society take his or her life.
But Dr Olayinka Atilola, a psychiatrist in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, observed that most people who committed suicide could do that as a result of mental health problem or a psycho-social problem.
“Psychosocial problems, including anxiety, depression, hostility, hopelessness, which exist at the individual level, can also cause it,’’ he observed.
He noted that the government must ensure the provision of mental health service in each of the primary health care across the country to attend to those that were observed to have the predisposition to suicide attempt.
“The best approach to combat suicide is that psychiatric experts should be provided at every primary health centre, because many people solve their health problem at the primary level.
“The Federal Government and the state governments should endeavour to have a programme that will allow people to talk about their health problem and other challenges daily to curb the rate of suicide attempt,’’ he suggested.
He noted that one of the causes of suicide could include the increase in urban migration which according to him could cause increase in psychosocial problem.
In addition to this, Dr Funmi Akinola, a consultant psychiatrist, Yaba, Lagos, said many things could also be responsible for suicide, including failed relationship, sexual, physical assault and financial challenge, among others.
She called on the government to think of establishing a hot telephone line strictly for those who were on a suicide attempt.
Sharing his experience, Mr Haruna Abdullahi, a publisher, said the moment he lost his mother, he became empty and sullen and the temptation to commit suicide crept in to his mind.
He said life became bitter and fearful to him and nothing interested him by which, he said, he withdrew to himself.
“I was edging close to a life of self destruction. Suicide became a plausible option. I was depressed and soaked in forlorn.
He, however, said that the day he decided to forget thinking about committing suicide was the day his four year old looked him in the eyes and asked, “daddy, when are you going to be happy again?’’.
He, therefore, called on Nigerian to always take out time to engage the people around them, observing that they might be weighed down with depression caused by lack of job, heartbreak, broken homes, disappointment or loss of loved ones.
Abdullahi advised Nigerian considering suicide to sometimes drop their cell phones and visit a neighbour for a chat, adding that this might reduce the rate of suicide attempt in the country.
In his view, Mr Ola-olu Ajide, a counselor and a minister in a church, said that taking someone’s life as a result of depression would rather compound the problem than solve it.
He noted that suicide could be both physical and spiritual, stating that physical depression could come as result of not achieving your target as and when due as expected in life.
“When you could not achieve those things you are targeting at a certain age in life, it can lead to physical depression.
“Study has revealed that men get depressed from age of 40 years to 45 years when they cannot get those things they have targeted at that particular age.
“Especially, when they should have achieved some landmarks in their areas of expectations such as marriage, financial breakthrough or children,’’ he said.
He, nonetheless, insisted that suicide could be, in most cases, induced by some opinions, challenges or depression that they had refused to share with people around them.
“People should be encouraged to meet people and talk to them about their experience, especially those who are of the same age bracket or those that are older who can also relate with them some of the things they have passed through in life,’’ he suggested.
He solicited the need to go out and associate with people either in the church, mosque, community meetings and social gathering, where they can meet people and share their experience.
Mr Adedotun Ajiboye, a psychologist in Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, advised relations, friends and colleagues of persons suffering from depression to be closer to them to avert incidents of suicide.
He observed that people who suffered depression, terminal medical condition, poverty, loss of loved one and loss of material things, among others, had the tendency to commit suicide.
He called for proper monitoring of behaviour of persons with depression in addition to taking them to see a psychiatrist who would prescribe anti-depressant drugs and follow up on such patients.
Ajiboye also said that harmful objects such as knives should be kept away from the depressed, advising that people should be their brother’s keepers.
He advised worshipers in various places to have welfare packages for people in their congregations who were in need during economic hardship.
“People are passing through a lot of tough times and they may not want to share their experiences, so religious leaders must learn to engage people.
“We must call our loved ones regularly to check on their welfare and see how we can be of assistance, you do not know if that call will just save a life,’’ the psychologist said.
He advised people who were faced with some challenges to learn to share their problems, saying “a problem shared is a problem half solved.’’
Ajiboye agreed that unstable mental condition was one of the factors that could make an individual to be prone to committing suicide — the process of purposely ending one’s life.(NANFeatures)
**If used, please credit the writer as well as News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)