Imlisanen Jamir
According to the latest National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) report titled ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2021’ the number of suicides in Nagaland was 43 in 2021. While this was a decrease from the previous year’s record of 48 such incidents, the fact remains that any number of deaths by suicide is too much.
The data indicates that ‘Family Problems’ are the leading causes of the suicides (10) followed by marriage related issues (1 extra marital affair and 1 divorce), unemployment and professional/career problem at 5 each. Other causes include bankruptcy or indebtedness (2), illness (2), drug abuse/alcoholic addiction (2), fall in social reputation (2), love affairs (4), poverty (2), property dispute (3), and other causes (1).
Given this data, we can extrapolate that the mental health aspect of suicide prevention needs to be all encompassing. While people’s openness to speaking about mental health is slowly increasing, stigmas still remain and families and individuals still hesitate to deal with these issues in an honest and open manner.
There’s a persistent myth that it is dangerous to talk about suicide. People fear saying the wrong thing or falsely assume talking will make someone more likely to act on their thoughts. What opening conversation actually does is eliminate silence, shame, and social isolation, which has a huge positive impact on someone’s life and may reduce, rather than increase, suicidal thinking.
It can be scary when someone shares suicidal thoughts, especially if you don’t know how to react. But you don’t need a perfect response: The best place to start is simply by being open to listening.
When someone discloses suicidal thoughts, you may be the only one they feel comfortable enough to open up to. If we panic and they have to use all their emotional energy to reassure you, they’ll likely wish they never reached out in the first place.
Even the most severely depressed person has mixed feelings or are ambivalent about dying and most likely just wants to end the pain they are in, not their lives. Often times, if a person in crisis gets the professional help they need, they will never be suicidal again. Suicide can be prevented in most cases and any act of kindness has the potential to save a life.
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