Suicide begins with how a person thinks

        Ever heard of a case of suicide? Most likely, yes. Over 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

This means that in every 40 seconds on the globe, someone dies of suicide. Suicide stands out as the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29 years olds globally.

Statistics aside. Today, I want to enlighten you on a few things about suicide that you probably didn’t know well.

Firstly, it should be borne in mind that no person simply kills him/ herself. Suicide is a process. And quite often, it has something to do with how people’s mind works—the thought process, especially.

Thoughts engorge the mind, drive the mind and make one commit suicide. This is normally attributed to a number of factors.

Before I explain this further, I should tell you that last year (2017), when one of our colleagues got into this trouble—I mean suicide—is when we really got a chance to ask questions about how one could end up committing suicide. I should confess that most of the questions remain unanswered until today.

However, going back to the contributing factors, I realized that one or two could have contributed to our colleague’s plight.

What you may not know

According to psychiatry researchers, people with a family history of committing suicide are at a much higher risk compared to the ones without.

But then, any losses that have impacts on person’s life could contribute greatly. This could be in many aspects of life—socially, politically, economically or spiritually. These may drive one into suicidal thoughts. Yet, some people commit suicide for illogical reasons. Certain beliefs, cultural or spiritual norms tend to make people believe that the only way to deal with difficult situations is by committing suicide.

It has also been found out by researchers that some cases of suicide were related to a history of mental health disorders such as depression—a feeling of persistent sadness and loss of interest in life.

Keeping away from others—always alone and isolated is among the factors contributing to suicidal ideas. This happens, especially when the situation that this person is in, is so embarrassing that he/she may not be in a position to share the ordeal with someone else—such as relationship difficulties and financial challenges.

The feeling of emptiness or hopelessness can drive one into suicidal ideation. In this perspective are students in our schools and colleges.

There are students who, because of their social or economic status, they could compare themselves with others and then feel discouraged in life. This give rise to depression that could cascade into suicidal ideation.

Stigma is another cause. By stigma, I mean the disgrace associated with certain circumstances. Chronic diseases such as HIV/Aids make some people get isolated in the societies.

Girls exposed to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) too, are experiencing stigma. This creates loneliness and finally leads to suicidal thoughts.

It’s difficult at times to link cases of suicide with alcoholism. But through research, it was found that alcoholic people are six times more likely to commit suicide than non-alcoholics.

Child abuse can be another cause. This is also compounded by factors such as negligence. It has been found that children or people who formerly experienced and still experiencing such situations could end up with suicidal thoughts.

Some more quick facts

Looking at the trend of suicide globally, statistics show that it accounted for 1.4percent of all deaths worldwide, making it the 17th leading cause of death in 2015, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

About 78 per cent of suicide cases were from low and middle-income countries in same year, says the WHO.

So, generally, a feeling of togetherness, doing away with stigma, alcohol and substance abuse as well as keeping away from beliefs that that encourage people to commit suicide can be an escape route.

Another thing is, always asking for help in difficult and cumbersome situations. There is much more but to cap it all, psychological healing is the key.