While the world is focused on the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, one of its lethal side-effects that hardly comes up for discussion is the huge rise in mental health issues as well as suicide rates. The problem is real and the impact of the lock-down and isolation is leading to anxiety, depression and panic attacks and suicidal thoughts in some people.
Some of the feared triggers, which has been expected to be a cause for suicides during the pandemic includes, and are not restricted to, “fear of catching the virus, stigma associated with the virus and also alcohol withdrawal,” amongst others.
Another key trigger that the experts have warned about is
repeated exposure to irresponsible media reports that tend to create a sense of panic about the number of COVID deaths and consequences of the lock-down. All these are triggers and heighten the sense of risk among vunerable people.
While the rates of suicide in India are high, it is not an issue native to our country alone. World over, suicide rates due to the pandemic are on the rise and it presents a massive under-appreciated threat whose surface we have barely scratched and are scrambling for a proper response.
In a study done by The Lancet Global Health, it was reported that suicide is the leading killer for women in 15-39 age group and second biggest killer for men in the same age group in the country. With the pandemic at its peak, there have been 140 suicides and another 21 suicide attempts which are directly related to COVID-19 and its fallout.
Unfortunately, because of the nature of the crisis, most of the focus during this pandemic is on the physical treatment of the patients with little attention being paid to the suicide risk.
Dr Soumitra Pathare, director, Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, is among those who is spearheading and initiative to create a civil society alliance comprising public health professionals, mental health advocates and journalists with deep personal interest in suicide prevention that will work at building public awareness about suicides and their prevention.
Dr Pathare says, “We wanted to build a public campaign for suicide prevention. We as a society can do a lot for suicide prevention. Suicides are preventable. We need to stop being fatalistic about suicides. A national suicide prevention strategy will save lives. 250,000 Indians need not die unnecessarily each year.”
The immediate goal of this group is to start a robust conversation among the general public, the media, and policy-makers about suicides in the context of COVID-19.
This is an entirely volunteer-led initiative and anyone with a keen interest in mental-health can join. Anyone wanting to join and volunteer for this initiative can click on
this link where you can describe how you would like to help.
Given the scale of the problem that is facing us, the need of the hour is to start conversations around this subject and, gather all support possible from across sections like media, civil society or private enterprise, in order to help promote this campaign and prevent suicides, says Dr Pathare.
He points us to a report in
the Scientific American, “Historically, disease pandemics have been associated with grave psychological consequences. This should not come as a surprise. In its simple definition “pandemic” describes the spread of a disease across a large region, but words such as “pandemic,” “plague” and now “coronavirus” are not experienced in a simple way; they come riddled with fear, anxiety, grief and chaos.”
The risk of suicide is not something that is new nor is it only limited to the duration of pandemic. Once the immediate threat of the virus dissipates, the widespread economic collapse and loss of livelihoods is likely to become a major trigger for suicides, especially in the socio-economically vulnerable sections of our country due loss of jobs, lack of other employment opportunities and other economic triggers.
While things seem bleak, there are measures which can be taken in order to ensure that suicides are at a minimum. In a piece published on the
National Center for Biotechnology Information some of the key interventions include appropriate training of mental health professionals of the country, community based interventions and also technology-based suicide prevention methods, among others.
