The number of people who died by suicide in the National Capital because of mental illness rose by more than 2½ times in 2019 compared to the previous year, although overall suicides because of various health reasons dipped significantly, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The absolute number of suicides stayed constant – 2,526 in each year, with “family problems” remaining the number one cause. Family problems relate to quarrels in families, relatives not doing well in their lives, etc.
The data doesn't capture the number of suicide attempts. Nearly seven people died by suicide every day on average, much more than the fatalities in road accidents, which left 4 persons die every day in 2019.
Mental illness was attributed as the reason for 47 suicides in Delhi last year, a 161 per cent jump from eighteen such deaths in the year before that. The number of women in both years remained constant at 6, while the number of men who died by suicide because of mental illness rose from 12 to 41.
In comparison, suicides due to illnesses of all kinds – such as mental, critical & prolonged physical illness.-- dipped by 48 per cent, from 218 to 130.
In 469 (18.5 per cent) of all 2,526 suicides, the NCRB couldn’t ascertain the cause.
Psychologists could not point to any specific reason behind the trend, even as they contended that NCRB may not have been able to capture the exact data. “If a person did not seek medical treatment for his or her mental illness despite suffering from it, it is not going to be counted as that,” said psychiatrist Samir Parikh, who is the director of Fortis National Mental Health Programme.
Unemployment & education
Unemployment was a factor that led to more suicides in 2019 than the previous year. At least 118 people died by suicide on turning jobless, a 20 per cent jump from 98 such deaths in 2018. Also, the number of suicides by jobless people rose from 611 in 2018 to 677 in 2019.
Overall, a vast majority of people who died received only a basic education & earned little money, showed the data.
Over 80 per cent of the suicides were by people who had studied only up to Class 12, & more than 61 per cent were people who earned less than Rs1 lakh annually. Nearly 10 per cent of all suicides were by daily wager labourers.
Rajat Mitra, a clinical psychologist, attributed the relation between poor financial/educational backgrounds & suicides to a sense of “despondency & gloom”. “This class of people tend to feel a sense of hopelessness & lack of options in their lives. It hurts their self-esteem & leaves them with suicidal tendencies,” said Mitra.
He said that a possible solution to this problem was to cultivate the culture of entrepreneurship among such people. “They need to be able to pick up skills to earn a livelihood & the Govt needs to step forward to encourage them to start their own venture,” said Mitra.
Relationship issues
Relationship issues -- be it marriage, family, love affairs or relationships outside marriage -- were the reason for 1,007 dying by suicide, nearly 40 per cent of all suicides. However, suicides related to marriages dipped from 233 to 123.
But there were more in the list who recently lost their partners – either due to death or separation. Thirty widows & widowers died by suicide in 2019, up from 10 in the year before that; & the number of people who were recently separated from their partners went up from 31 to 93 in the corresponding period.
Hanging was the method used in three out of every four suicides, followed by poison in 6.76% of the cases. Mitra said that most people don’t realise that hanging or even other suicide methods often do not kill people & instead leave them with other injuries, which sometimes last a lifetime.
A study by the American Association of Suicidology showed that only one in every 25 suicide attempts in the US ended in death.
Until July 2018, suicide was criminalised under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 309, & made punishable with a year in jail, or a fine or both. But the Mental Healthcare Act of2017(which came into force from 2018) restricted its application & said that unless proved otherwise, a person who attempts suicide is to be presumed to be under severe stress.
A senior Delhi Police officer said that the IPC Section 309 was now pressed in rare cases. “If an apprehended suspect, for example, tries to bang his head against the wall with an intention of getting away, we book them under this section,” said the officer who didn’t want to be identified.
Eish Singhal, the Delhi Police spokesperson, said that the process followed now is to carry out an inquest proceeding after a suicide to ascertain if it was due to pressure or harassment by anyone. “We look for suicide notes, for statements of relatives of the victims, & to understand if someone had abetted the suicide,” said Singhal.
Fear worse this year
While the data for this year is not still available, there have been a number of instances when people have died by suicide either after getting infected by Coronavirus or due to financial impact of the pandemic.
Mitra feared that suicide figures this year could be significantly higher than in previous years.
Mitra said, “People have lost their jobs & their businesses have taken a hit, but right now they are living off their savings. Once they begin getting a sense of the loss & their savings start drying up, the situation could get bad".
He said that such affected people need to acknowledge the loss, look for entrepreneurship opportunities & realise that they can always bounce back.
Mitra said that “They must take inspiration from the times of the partition when so many people lost everything, but built up as entrepreneurs to recover".
Parikh said India needs a suicide prevention policy & more & more suicide helplines.
He said that “In the long run, we need to impart life skills in schools so that people can cope with such situations".
(If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialists. Helplines: Fortis Stress Helpline: 8376804102, Sumaitri: 01123389090, Snehi: 01165978181, Sanjeevani: 01124311918/01124318883).
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