Overburdening leads to impulsive suicides in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Inability to accept failure and identifying self-worth with academic excellence has triggered a spate of suicides among youngsters, especially students in the state.

Psychologists say that the intolerance to even the minimal academic pressure among students is mostly because of the rise in competition levels in the education sector and high expectations of parents from their wards.

“There is an over emphasis on academic excellence which is used to determine the worth of a child by both parents and teachers. Failure of which crumbles the self-esteem of a child and a particular incident can provoke them to consider suicide as the only solution. Parents should accept their children for who they are, rather than who they would like them to be. Overburdening the child with their expectations can imbibe impulsive suicidal thoughts due to fear of failure,” said Dr Vivian Kapil, psychiatrist, SIMS Hospital.

Notably, suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29 year-olds globally as per the first WHO report on suicide prevention. Suicide is preventable and studies reveal that people vulnerable to self-destruct exhibit warning signs, which can be recognised by their friends and family to prevent suicide contemplation.
“Various risk factors such as lack of appetite, self-harm, isolation, loss of interest, abuse, addiction are often the warning signs of behavioural changes when a person contemplates suicides. However, in case of impulsive suicides, a particular incident in the life of a student, like what happened in the suicide case of Anitha, Satyabhama university student and the other four school students from Vellore, can lead to suicidal thoughts. Spur-of-the-moment decisions to take off one’s life do not give an opportunity to the kin of the victim to recognise the warning signs,” said consultant psychologist at Apollo Hospitals, Dr V. Raman.
The glorification of suicide cases also leads to their propagation causing ‘Werther effect’ or what is called as ‘copycat suicide’, mostly in depressed or distressed people.

“The real conversation we need to be having with the youth is about their reasons for choosing self-harm, mental health, depression, stress and sensitivity. We need to discourage suicides that would help push down the mentality of becoming a martyr by ending life. Teachers should interact with students to inquire about the reasons for the poor performance instead of chiding them in public,” said Dr S. Nambi, a senior psychiatrist.