Recent years have witnessed a steep rise in the incidence of suicide or deliberate self-harm (DSH), as it is medically known globally. It is especially acute in developing countries like India. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, nearly one million people globally, commit suicide every year. This works out to one such death every 40 seconds — more than all the yearly victims of wars and natural disasters, with the highest toll among the elderly.
In its recent global report on suicides, the United Nations health agency said suicide is an amassing public health problem, which kills more than conflicts, wars and natural catastrophes. The report found that suicides take place all over the world and at almost any age. Globally, suicide rates are highest in people aged 70 and over, but in some countries the highest rates are found among the young – in the 15-29 years age group. According to the WHO report, suicide is the second leading cause of death in the I5-29 year-olds, globally.
In India, going by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and media reports, over one-and-a-half lakh persons commit suicide every year. While this figure is just reported cases, experts believe that many more go unreported or misclassified mainly due to the social stigma attached to suicide incidents and legal sanctions against it. Suicide thus is increasingly becoming a silent, yet an unrecognized epidemic, which is a drain on the country’s economy.
Goa has been witnessing an increasing rise in the number of suicide cases in the last about a decade or so. A cursory study has revealed that broken ‘love affairs’, family conflicts, mental illness, financial problems, marital disputes, alcoholism and drugs-related problems are the major causes of suicides in the state. Broken love affairs accounted for 35 per cent of suicide cases, followed by suicides due to mental illness and family problems. Mental illness has been emerging as one of the major reasons for suicides in the state, in the last few years.
In fact, the number of suicide cases in the state has been increasing alarmingly, even as several NGOs and certain government agencies have come forward to lend a helping hand to those in need of help. As per official statistics, Goa recorded 281 cases in 2011, 282 cases in 2012 and 314 cases in 2013. In the first six months of the year alone, the state witnessed a staggering 139 suicide cases.
Goa, according to the study, ranks fifth in India, among the less populated states. Researches revealed that Goa’s suicide statistics are similar to four South Indian states — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, which are home to 22 per cent of India’s population. Goa is also witnessing a considerable increase in the number of elderly persons committing suicide, in the last few years.
On the global front, the WHO blamed intense media coverage when celebrities kill themselves for fuelling the problem. Suicides should not be glamorized or sensationalized. A major part of the blame for high number of such cases lies with the publicity given to suicides by famous people. The UN’s health agency has urged news outlets not to mention suicide as the cause of death at the start of reports, but only at the end, with a mention of where (the reader) can find help.
WHO which says suicide a major public health problem that must be confronted and stemmed, has called for more to be done to reduce access to common means of suicide.
The problem has caught global attention and has prompted many research studies. Behavioural scientists have been intrigued by questions like how many people commit or attempt or even contemplate this extreme act and what drives them to it. Research findings throw light on many of these vexing questions.
Recently, scientists at Indiana University in the US have found a series of RNA biomarkers in blood that may help identify who is at risk for taking their own life. The scientists claim to have pinpointed a molecule in the bloodstream that identifies people intent on taking their own life. In fact, they claim that raised levels of this biomarker can predict and thereby prevent suicide attempts.
Researchers said the biomarkers were found at significantly higher levels in the blood of both bipolar disorder patients with thoughts of suicide as well in a group of people who had committed suicide. Researchers now believe the results provide a first “proof of principle” for a test that could provide an early warning of somebody being at higher risk for an impulsive suicide act.
The researchers conducted a variety of analyses of the blood of a subset of participants who reported a dramatic shift from no suicidal thoughts to strong suicidal ideation. They identified differences in gene expression between the “low” and “high” states of suicidal thoughts and subjected those findings to a system of genetic and genomic analysis called Convergent Functional Genomics that identified and prioritized the best markers by cross-validation with other lines of evidence.
The researchers found that the marker SAT-I and a series of other markers provided the strongest biological “signal” associated with suicidal thoughts. Next, to validate their findings, working with the local coroner’s office, they analyzed blood samples from suicide victims and found that some of same top markers were significantly elevated. Finally, the experts analysed blood test results from two additional groups of patients and found that high blood levels of the bio-markers were correlated with future suicide-related hospitalization, as well as hospitalization that had occurred before the blood tests.
The discovery of blood test that can determine the propensity of a person to commit suicide has been hailed in health sector as a significant medical breakthrough, as the test has a potential of paving the way for better pre-emptive interventions among patients suffering from acute depression and other mental/emotional disorders.
Taken together, the new blood test will boost psychiatry and improve mental health of the people.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
