Suicide nation

One of the growing problems of the country is the rising rate of suicide. The greater concern is that the problem is never dealt with because talking about suicide is often considered as taboo. Suicide has always been neglected because of cultural and religious aspects of our society and most of the cases are left unreported. An unofficial analysis based over a period of two years showed over 300 suicidal deaths in Pakistan from 35 different cities. The findings showed that men outnumbered women by 2:1 and that the majority of men who commit suicide were unmarried; the trend for women, however, is the opposite.

The research also indicated that the majority of subjects were under the age of 30 who committed suicide because of ‘domestic problems’. These problems include unemployment, health issues, poverty, homelessness, family disputes, depression and a range of social pressures. Hanging, use of insecticides and firearms are the most common methods in Pakistan for taking one’s life. The need of the hour is to arrange seminars and awareness programs to educate people on how to cope with temporary problems and to be aware of mental disorders linked to suicides.

Andrew John

Karachi