Suicides have become a common way to die in today’s world. According to Professor Lourens Schlebusch, the author of Suicidal behaviour in South Africa, most suicides and suicidal attempts are among people aged 10 to 34. In her book, statistics show that every hour there is a life lost because of suicide and 20 failed attempts are made in the same time duration.
Suicides have become a common way to die in today’s world. According to Professor Lourens Schlebusch, the author of Suicidal behaviour in South Africa, most suicides and suicidal attempts are among people aged 10 to 34. In her book, statistics show that every hour there is a life lost because of suicide and 20 failed attempts are made in the same time duration.
The same book Suicidal behaviour in South Africa further enlightens us that the suicide statistics have increased to 48% over the past 10 years.
Mrs. Helen Malgas, a psychologist at the University of Cape Town, said that Suicides are often caused by severe depressions – which she explains as "a mood disorder coupled with pain”.
"There is a strong link between depression and suicide.” She further explained.
Depression has many causes which include; social circumstances for instance poverty, emotional life, relational factors- the inability to deal with dysfunctional relationships and loss of family members. In certain cases, suicide is known to be biological. Some people have long histories of suicides in their families. With extended lines of relatives that have committed suicide; chances are high that one can take one’s own life easily without difficulty because of their family background.
Depression is likely to cause isolation in individuals, feelings of sadness, loss of appetite, insomnia or hypersomnia and several signs of oddness in individuals.
An interesting factor raised by Mrs. Malgas is that suicides sometimes happen after the patients have sought psychological help and are starting to recover. The moment they are in charge of their lives, they are in the right mental state to plan their suicides.
Unfortunately the psychologists cannot see through them and they often think that there patients are recovering; little do they know that the help given to these people is at times a recipe for disaster.
An additional interesting factor raised is that the victims often plan suicides, it does not really matter what psychological or mental state of mind a person is in at the time.
Mrs. Malgas explains the methods of committing suicides often differ from sex of the victim, to the age of the victims and so forth. Men are very likely to use more violent and fast methods of suicide for instance; guns and intended accidents, like falling on the railway rails when a train is approaching and jumping off long buildings. Women will take the less violent ways like overdosing and gassing themselves to death. Worth noting is that also family backgrounds are likely to determine how violent a suicide can be, depending on how settled or unsettled one’s family is.
There are no perfect candidates for suicide. However, it is significant to mention that suicide does not discriminate its victims. The people that we assume have everything they need also take their lives, for instance who would have thought that Former Wales Football manager could have been a suicide victim. A man whose friends and family claim was happily married and had everything that he needed. Gary Speed is not the only celebrity that has committed suicide in the past. There are several others that seem very happy to us but have also been known to have taken their lives.
Nobody really deserves to die. Mrs. Malgas says she has had patients that have been through some very bad things but have come out of them slowly but quite steadily. "Suicide is not a solution, and it is neither a cowardly act because it takes an enormous amount of courage to take one’s own life.” She said.
There is a resilience that some people have and those kinds of people are often helped out of the suicidal situations that they are in and only those with that kind of flexibility are the ones that can be helped by psychologists according to Mrs. Malgas.
Parasuicide is a noticeable attempt to suicide but the victim’s plea or cry out for help. According to Mrs. Malgas the victims seldom die but they if they do, it is unintended. These cases are easy to spot since they want to be helped.
"There is nothing much we can do to stop a person that wants to die.” Said Mrs Malgas, asked why? Her response was that suicide potentials can be spotted by their friends and family members and not easily by psychologists, since people do not often show their characters at the first meeting.
Friends and family members that suddenly absent themselves from society, develop noticeable mood swings, strange changes in the person that are somewhat awkward should not at any time be stigmatized, people with such signs should be reached out to, helped and be reassured that there is light at the end of the tunnel.