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Wednesday May 08, 2024

Suicide watch

May 14, 2019

More than 13000 people died by suicide in Pakistan since 2012, as per a WHO report. It must be keep in mind that there are various causes that lead people to commit suicide. Depression is one of the leading risk factor of suicide. According to conservative estimates, nearly 15-20 percent adults and 10 percent children in Pakistan have some form of mental disorder.

In fact, unmonitored internet usage and dearth of communication between parents and children also are the leading causes of suicide among young people. In addition, about 55 million Pakistanis are said to suffer from bipolar disorder, in contrast to 3.2 million Pakistanis reported in 1992. Unfortunately, data generated by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) estimates that more than 3500 cases of suicide were reported in 2017, over 2300 cases were registered in 2016, while more than 1900 cases were recorded in 2015. Thus, the need of the hour is for Pakistan's government to take serious steps towards dealing with this issue by increasing psychiatric help.

Chakrani Khadim Hussain

Lahore