Daily Times

LAHORE: There is an immense need to raise awareness among the public on suicide and how to deal with vulnerable individuals, said Dr Nasim Chaudry, CEO of the Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning (PILL).

Speaking in a morning show on a private news channel, Dr Nasim said that at least one person is dying of suicide every 40 seconds in the world. She also informed that the second most common cause of death in the 15 to 29 years age group was suicide.

Dr Nasim said that social isolation was also an important aspect that could lead humans to commit suicide. “When people feel they cannot talk to their families or loved ones about how they feel, they can fail to understand what to do and consequently lose hope, and ultimately commit suicide.”

Talking about depression as a major cause of suicide and self-harm, Dr Nasim said the rate of depression was higher among South Asian countries, including Pakistan, because of tensions in interpersonal relationships and the people’s inability to cope with them.

She added that suicide and self-harm could also be caused by attention-seeking behaviour. However, these situations could be avoided if proper awareness was given to the public and they could identify the symptoms and behaviours that lead to such situations, she said.

Meanwhile, PILL Assistant Director Tayyaba Kiran said that depression, although an important precursor to self-harm, was not the only aspect that needed attention. She said that people needed to know that any change in the behaviour of their loved ones could be a signal of they being vulnerable to self-harm. She said that behaviours like talking too much about death, meeting people they had not met for a long time and saying goodbyes to people were behaviours that indicate that the person was going on the path to self-harm.

Tayyaba said that there were several factors that lead to disappointment and increased the risk of self-harm – depression was the key among them, followed by other reasons like unemployment and marital or interpersonal conflicts. She added that people with prior history of self-harm were more likely to commit suicide.

The PILL is a research organisation that studies suicide patterns in Pakistan and is attempting to raise awareness on the issue and help reduce the frequency of such incidences.

Published in Daily Times, October 24^th 2017.