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Suicide - Causes and Precautionary Measures

Published on Mar 09, 2022 and last reviewed on Feb 21, 2023   -  5 min read

Abstract

Suicide may sound foolish, but it is a whisper of deep suffering. Please read this article to learn more about it.

Suicide - Causes and Precautionary Measures

Overview:

An attempt to cause death to one's self is known as suicide. Suicide is attempted due to the mental pressure experienced by an individual. A shocking or traumatic event can follow it. People who commit suicide have a low tolerance for sad occasions. A healthy person who handles many hardships in life is also known to commit suicide. Therefore, it depends on how an individual perceives a stressful situation. It is possible to guide people who are impulsive with some psychotherapy treatment.

What Is the Mentality of People Who Commit Suicide?

A person commits suicide only when he feels hopeless in life. If a person is there by their side to encourage them in all their endeavors, then there are possibilities for the individual to feel really better. However, if the person is not good enough to support them mentally, the person will be pushed into loneliness. This loneliness can either be physical or mental.

Physical loneliness refers to the state where the person does not have anybody to support them. Mental loneliness can happen due to mental illness. In mental loneliness, the person will feel lonely and unsupportive though many friends and family surround them. Many reports suggest that loneliness has been the reason for suicide. However, people who stay in group therapy or volunteering organizations are known to have a healthy mentality, and they can beat loneliness and hopelessness in comparison with others.

What Are the Causes of Suicide?

The causes of suicide are:

  • Mental Breakdown - It might include situations where the person might be expecting victory in a particular business or examination, and failure to achieve that success will increase peer pressure on the individual in society. In such situations, when the person is continuously insulted by society or family members, he will be pushed to commit suicide.

  • Emotional Breakdown - A sudden loss of a loved one or a love break-up will push a person to a more negative mindset. The sudden death or separation of the loved one would not be acceptable to them, and they attempt suicide rather than cope with them.

  • Personality Disorders - Personality disorders like borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Borderline people generally tend to harm themselves. Some of them hurt themselves on their wrist with blades or any other sharp objects and end their lives. Such impulsive behaviors will make the person make bad decisions in life quickly. Patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders have manic episodes. They might even imagine things that are not real. Such maniac episodes in severe stages can result in suicide.

  • Self-Harming Behavior - This can be seen in patients with disorders similar to borderline personality disorder. It might include narcissistic people, but they might harm themselves in an attempt to seek attention. If they are under the influence of alcohol, then it might result in fatal situations like suicide or death.

  • Substance Abuse - Some people do not intend to die. If they have drunk heavily or used some narcotic products in higher quantities, they will not have a stable mindset. This will result in the death of the individual. It would be difficult to differentiate whether it was a suicide or someone-induced death.

  • Maternal and paternal side mental health issues.

  • A Family History of Suicide - If a person's family members have a history of committing suicide, then the rates at which the mentally affected individual can commit suicide are relatively higher.

  • Poor Physical Health - If a person has unbearable physical pain, he might attempt suicide if he or she cannot tolerate it.

  • Unhealthy Online Games - Certain online games like blue whale are designed to affect a person mentally. It gets the person addicted to the game. The person may also be given tasks like commiting suicide. These games are often targeted at kids.

  • Unemployment - Suicide due to unemployment is more common in men. When a man does not have a satisfactory job, he considers himself unfit for society. An extreme level of shame and guilt will make the person commit suicide.

Who Are Affected More?

Suicide- Who are affected more?

Women have increased suicidal thoughts than men. This might be associated with the alteration in their mood patterns. The cause of their mood instability is hormonal fluctuations. Depression rates in menopausal women are known to be higher. But men commit suicide at a higher rate than women and the attempt to commit suicide is four-time more in females than males. The increased suicidal thoughts were more prominent in females at the age of 25.

According to medical reports, men die from suicide nearly three or four times more than females. The suicide rate was higher in males at the age of 65. According to the world health organization (WHO) report, Europe is known to have the highest number of suicides in men. The western pacific region was known to have the maximum number of recorded cases of suicide. Other continents like Europe and America also had 13 to 13.5 percent of recorded suicide cases. From this, we can understand that society and culture influence a person directly or indirectly. This is due to the persisting taboo that is not openly discussed.

The reason for higher suicide in men was analyzed. A man is expected to be independent and have a considerable level of economic status. This perspective on their gender prevented him from seeking help during traumatic situations. Women were known to commit suicide in cases where the husband had illegal affairs or if she was infertile—the death of the partner caused depression or suicide in both males and females.

On the other hand, the family members of the person who committed suicide are also affected. Some suicide reasons might be an open secret, but some might be hidden and not known until the end. In such cases, it would be a permanent pain for their loved ones.

What Are the Precautionary Measures?

We can take a few precautionary measures to prevent the rates of suicide. They are:

  • If any one of the family members is seen sad or depressed for a very long time, the one should have the heart to talk to the affected individual. They could also get help from a psychiatrist or psychologist for improvement in their mental health.

  • The affected individual will be diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Then the therapy will be planned accordingly. The patient will be put into individual therapy or group therapy.

  • The first and foremost treatment plan would be to relieve the patient from depressive episodes and negative thoughts.

  • If you are generally an emotional person, then you should avoid watching thrillers and genres of movies that would involve psycho characters. If the movie scenes involve murders or suicide, then it would disturb your subconscious mind. This will also provide you with ideas to commit suicide in impulsive situations.

  • If a person is mentally ill, one can help them by providing physical and mental comfort.

  • The doctor will plan for dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy, and other useful techniques planned for the patient. Psychological counseling will help the individual to heal from emotional wounds.

  • In case of an emergency, the patient or their family member can get help from the local emergency services.

You can also get help from our online platform.

Last reviewed at:
21 Feb 2023  -  5 min read

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