Psychologist: Children can experience suicidal thoughts

Just the mere thought of a child wanting to take his or her life may seem unrealistic for many parents. But adults must come to terms with the fact that children can experience these thoughts especially if they are experiencing mental health issues, relationship issues with family and friends, or significant stress in their life.

This was the view of clinical Psychologist, Dr Katija Khan who said the idea of children and suicide may seem incompatible and inconsistent and to adults, it may not be even considered as a probable option for children.

“Signs in children can be subtle and may be overlooked as we do not think them capable of something as drastic and tragic as suicide. But unfortunately, it does happen.”

Khan was interviewed after an 11-year-old standard four student took his life at his Couva home on Monday night.

The child was suffering from insomnia was scolded by his mother and told to turn off the cartoons and go to bed.

Moments later he was found unresponsive. His mother said that four years ago, the child’s elder brother was murdered and since then the 10-year-old started experiencing problems sleeping at night.

Suicide, Dr Khan said is an uncomfortable topic and so it is seen as something secretive and taboo. And she said many parents think by avoiding the topic they are protecting children from something distressing. But this is not the case she said. “Parents need to talk more about it and can be reassured that it is okay to talk to children about suicide. It will not cause them any harm. Rather than encouraging them to be suicidal, it encourages them to talk about their thoughts and feelings.”

She said adults may not know if a child is thinking about suicide unless we ask them about it. And as parents or guardians, we can approach the topic by asking them how they have been feeling lately?

If they have ever thought of hurting themselves? what do they do when you feel really angry? what do they do if you feel really sad? who could they talk to if they had a problem?

“Older children can be asked directly if they have ever heard about suicide. With younger children, questions should be simple and brief. Children may also have questions and parents’ answers should also be simple and truthful.”

Describing the most recent incident involving the 11-year-old child as tragic, she offered condolences to the family of the 11-year-old boy. Khan said that what this family needs most at this time is compassion, empathy, and support to help them deal with their grief and coping.

Khan told Newsday that some factors that put children at higher risk for suicide include experiencing loss and grief, experiencing or witnessing violence, chronic bullying, previous suicide attempts and having a family history of suicide. TT she said has the third-highest rate of suicide in the Caribbean and is ranked 43rd out of 183 countries for suicide rates in the world. And suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people between the age of 10 -14.