Jhilmil Recommends: World Suicide Prevention Day Focus

About 800000 people commit suicide worldwide every year, of these 135,000 (17%) are residents of India, a nation with 17.5% of world population . According to WHO data, the age standardized suicide rate in India is 16.4 per 100,000 for women (6th highest in the world) and 25.8 for men (ranking 22nd)². With World Suicide Prevention Day around the corner on September 10th, this month I have put together articles on suicide, warning signs in teens, and resources if anyone you love is at risk.

While depression is the mental illness that is most strongly associated with suicidal thoughts, it doesn’t often lead to suicidal acts. The National Institute of Mental Health recently launched a study that will use brain scans, blood draws and other tests to identify biomarkers that are related to imminent risk for suicide.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-suicide-rates-rise-scientists-find-new-warning-signs-1465235288

One of the myths about suicidal talk, and actual suicide attempts, in young people is that they are just a bid for attention or “a cry for help. When a teenager becomes sad, more withdrawn, more irritable, anxious, tired, or apathetic—things that used to be fun aren’t fun anymore—you should be concerned. Read on for practical steps on what you can do, and what you should be aware of.

http://childmind.org/article/teen-suicides-risk-factors/

Useful American website on suicide prevention, with several resources and links.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention/index.shtml

Read on for problems confronting India's young, in a society impatient for progress and yet underprepared for the challenges that inevitably accompany modernity. India has the world's highest suicide rate among 15 to 29 year olds, ahead of next-placed North Korea, according to a September report by the World Health Organization. For the first time, suicide is the leading cause of death among young Indian women, overtaking deaths during childbirth, the WHO says.

http://in.reuters.com/article/india-suicide- idINKBN0JO2A420141211

The noise over farmers’ suicides gives the impression that farmers constitute the largest group of people committing suicide, right? NCRB data show that the single largest group, profession-wise, committing suicide every year is housewives. So why is there no breast-beating and tear-shedding for housewives or those working in private service?

http://www.firstpost.com/business/farmer-suicides-depends-number-want-believe-2222578.html

Read Jhilmil's recommendations for previous months:

Jhilmil recommends: Mental Health News- Depression and Entrepreneurs 

Jhilmil recommends: Depression in our youth, The good and bad of Psychiatry Medicine 

Jhilmil Breckenridge’s writing often worries about issues of feeling lost in a changing world, the immigrant or foreign experience, love, loss and longing, and nostalgia for times gone by and campaigns tirelessly in the field of mental health advice, support and advocacy. She is also a trained yoga teacher, trained in the Bihar School of Yoga’s hatha yoga therapies, as well as a teacher of Pranic Healing. 

References:

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_India

2 Suicide Rates - Data by country. World Health Organization 2012.