Preventing suicide

THE TRAGIC case involving a mother of four who drank poison in a park in San Fernando earlier this week has returned the problem of suicide in our country to the forefront.

Ahead of World Mental Health Day, which is to be commemorated next Thursday, we urge the powers that be to introduce policies to raise awareness of mental health issues and to foster standards that can save lives. We acknowledge many strides have been made in raising awareness and in mobilising resources that could assist the vulnerable. But there is always room for improvement.

It was only last month that World Suicide Prevention Day was observed. As noted on that occasion, suicide remains a major problem in this country, with state figures suggesting we have the third highest rate of suicide in the Caribbean region.

“For a country to have the third highest rate for both mental illnesses and suicides in the Caribbean region, the powers that be must take this seriously,” warned counselling psychologist Anna Maria Mora. “Having a mentally healthy citizenry is an imperative.”

That imperative is underlined by the fact that suicide has terrible and long-lasting effects.

According to the International Association for Suicide Prevention, approximately 135 people suffer intense grief or are otherwise affected when someone dies by suicide. Not only must we confront this issue directly, but we must also not be afraid to address the harm it causes. Suicide is not just a matter of individual pain and suffering. It is a public health issue.

“Talking about suicide opens the conversation and reduces stigma,” Wendy Jeremie of the TT Association of Psychologists said at a seminar last month. With statistics that show a suicide every two days in this country, she called for suicide prevention to be more prominent in the national discourse.

But while people who die by suicide or attempt suicide can be counted, people who have suicidal thoughts are not as easily identified. The tragedy of many suicides involves the shock of discovering, belatedly, that a person was silently suffering.

This is why there must be tools and policies, in the workplace and at schools, that can help identify the vulnerable. Such tools should empower stakeholders to identify and to act in response to any situation which they feel might place pressures on a person to fall victim to this health issue. Though suicide is not always preventable, an understanding of risk factors is useful. These include prior suicide attempts; suicide by someone close; substance use; mental illnesses such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder; feelings of isolation due to actual or perceived discrimination related to race, sexual orientation, disability, gender.

Policies must also be introduced to boost social problem-solving skills, foster a sense of belonging, and to provide social support needed to reduce the likelihood that someone will attempt suicide.