Goa’s suicide rate per lakh population has been much more than the national average consistently for last few years.
It is very important that this silent killer is taking a huge toll on the society. The working class and students are worst affected. On one hand we take pride of our demographic dividend while on the other hand we, as members of the society it is a shame that we are allowing our loved ones to drift away from us so much that we are not even coming to know when their lives have come to a dead-end.
In 2019, Goa registered 259 cases of death by suicide, rate of suicides per lakh population was 16.8% against the national average of 10.4%. Share of suicides due to illness and family problems was 23.4%. In 2020, suicide cases rose to 308, rate of suicides per lakh population was 19.9% against the national average of 11.3%. Last year suicide cases rose to a whopping 321, rate of suicides per lakh population was 19.5% against the national average of 12%. Share of suicides due to illness and family problems was 22.7% against national average of 18.6%.
Health and suicide is a subject we need to speak about each possible day because we don’t know that the next possible victim could be someone very close to us. Hence it becomes very important not only speak about mental health suicides but also have a robust system that would ensure the triggers of suicides are taken care of. But is this happening in our society? Are we really aware and sensitive to the issue of mental health and suicides?
Suicide is an outcome of multi-factorial things, one of them being social stigma. For most of the people, it is like any other physical ailment. Along with that there are a lot of other factors like that of societal pressure, family factor, illness, and many others.
Peer pressure to perform, lack of freedom to choose a career of choice or life partner, prolonged illness leading do bankruptcy and high debts and many other reasons. The fact remains that suicides are an outcome of a broken social system that has failed to give the right kind of socio-economic security that a person needs to live without any worry.
The sense of stigma and shame attached to mental health is a huge impediment in accepting the problem and looking for solutions. Along with it is society’s refusal to acknowledge that the ecosystem we are in, which is considered as normal, is not right. The inner turmoil caused by extreme pressure from outside forces pushes a person to the brink. That leads to depression, sense of hopelessness and helplessness. Finally, it leads to suicide.
Currently, talk about suicides shifts the focus on mental health problem. Mental health aspect is a symptom. The disease is the malfunctioning social system that fails to recognise the basic needs of a human being and does not care about his or her happiness. Lack of appreciation for good work done, lack of scope to grow, social exploitation, little or no family time, loneliness – all these factors lead towards a sense of failure.
Happiness is not always having the money. It also about giving the right space for a person to express himself or herself. Although we are politically a democratic country, swear by democratic ethos, but socially we are an autocratic society where whoever is in a position of power – work-sphere, family, education – anywhere we look around, we will find that there is total domination and top-to-bottom approach.
It is a one-way communication route where the instruction model of messaging is followed. The one on the top instructs, those in the bottom just follow, without any scope for feedback. More often than not, this dictatorial style of functioning across all the spectrums of the society creates a lot of frustration and anger, but no outlet for releasing this emotion.
This kind of situation invariably leads to substance abuse, addiction, broken homes and ultimately suicide. The corrective action has to be recognised and taken when the person is alive. There is no point holding discussions after a person has died. Human life is not a personal belonging that can be replaced if lost. Wake up now and save precious lives from getting lost.
