Articles from Pro.RS Murthy
Prof. RS Murthy
Ex Professor of Psychiatry
NIMHANS, Bangalore
EX Consultant for WHO; Chief Editor Word Health
Click on below article Links to read articles from Pro. RS Murthy
An Article from Dr. Dhaivat Mehta (Psychiatrist)
The National Institute of Mental Health has a mantra, ‘No health without mental health.” However, due to the stigma that often surrounds mental health millions of people worldwide do not receive the help they need and often overlook this extremely prevalent health issue.
Mental health, once defined in terms of absence of illness, has gradually become understood in a more holistic way, which includes the positive qualities that help people flourish. Hence the term c which is the upcoming new concept that needs a widespread exploration in the near future. It’s always easy to prevent any disease, than to cure it. The same holds true for mental health diseases, especially all neurotic illnesses and particularly suicides. There’s nothing that is more valuable than a human life. And nearly all of Suicides are preventable. Looking at local data, Gujarat state reports 14,702 registered suicide cases in the last two years of 2018-2020!
Regarding suicides, many theories have been propounded. A person who commits or tries to commit a suicide firstly isolates his/her self from the society, and during this aloofness, he/she irrationally decides that Suicide is the only way out. This faulty notion, due to the lack of any counter argument from other friends or family, is never challenged, and thus accepted as true and is acted upon. Realizing this reason it is prudent to say that social bonding and a (positive) collectivity of people can do much to obliterate the tribulation of depression and suicide. Activities that help one remain calm, joyful and give them a sense of satisfaction should be encouraged. Mindfulness and Meditation are also some of the powerful tools that can help one by initially accommodate to one’s negative thoughts and emotions, and later indirectly diminish them and liberate the person from their ill effects.
I shall end by wishing for a bright future for all of Humanity, with the eradication of depression & suicides!
SUICIDES IN MADHYA PRADESH
By Dr.Sagar Mudgal (Psychiatrist)
Suicide has always been a very serious issue in India especially due to the ignorance regarding mental health in India. Now looking at some statistics concerning with suicides for the state of Madhya Pradesh. According to a survey conducted in 2019 it was found that there were 12,457 reported suicides making it the state with the 4th highest number of suicides in India.
Recently after the Covid 19 pandemic, the grevious issue of suicide has only been in limelight due to suicides of noted celebrities, which makes us ponder that are the lives of common people less important, that such a serious issue has come into light only now.
Generally people who do commit suicide do so after silently & secretly suffering from some mental illness like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia e.t.c. which if were diagnosed & treated by a qualified psychiatrist could have been avoided.
There have always been some population more at risk viz. farmers, according to NRCB,M.P. had 399 labourers & 142 farmers committing suicide. Suicide rates are high amongst medicos but only a few cases from the many institutions are even reported, the risk is higher due to increased stress & poor work environment.
Recently it also came in news about suicides of Covid 19 positive patients & due to apprehension of getting infected.
The need of the hour is to create more awareness about mental health, create more psychiatry p.g. seats,& encourage people to visit them.
Also yoga, meditation, sleep hygiene & mental health awareness should be started at school level itself to create a new breed of youngsters more capable of handling stress & seeking out help of mental health professionals if need be, instead of hiding & letting it escalate where they only see suicide as the answer.
Teenager suicide: A serious Problem by Dr. Aarti Patel(Psychiatrist)
Suicide is a major public health problem across the world. Globally, close to 8, 00,000 people die from suicide every year, that’s 1 person every 40 seconds. Of which 17 % are residents of India.The suicide rate among young adult aged 15 to 29 is more than three times the national average in India. Every 1 hr one student commits suicide in India.
Risk Factors:
(1) Intrapersonal :
Recent or serious loss, mental disorder (particularly mood disorders), feeling of hopelessness,
helplessness ,worthlessness, guilt, alcohol and other substance use disorders, disciplinary
problems.
(2) Social :
Recent or serious loss like death, divorce or separation of parents, broken relationships, lack
of social support, family history of suicide, nuclear family with both parents working, child
abuse or neglect, sense of isolations, victim of bullying or being a bully.
(3) cultural / Environmental :
Access to lethal means (firearms, pills), stigma associated with asking for help, cultural and
religious beliefs, barriers to accessing services (financial costs of services, not easily
availability)
Protective factors:
(1) Skills in problem solving, conflict resolution and handling problems in a non- violent way,
(2) Strong connections to family, friends and community supports ,(3) Restricted access
to highly lethal means of suicide (3) Cultural and religious beliefs that discourage suicide
and support self preservation.
Early identification of specific warning signs like below can help in treatment of specific
mental problem and prevention of suicide: (1) Talking about dying (2) Change in personality
like sad, withdrawn, irritable, anxious, tired, decrease interaction with others (3) Difficulty in
concentrating in school, work or routine tasks (4)change in sleep pattern like insomnia, often
with early waking or oversleeping, Nightmares (5) change in eating habits in form of loss of
appetite or weight, overeating (6) fear of losing control – acting erratically, harming self or
others.
Although there is lots of services available for suicide prevention in community like
emergency helpline no., availability of students’ counselors in school and college ,increase
number of child and adolescent psychiatrists , development of advance technology and
increase facilities in educations, Still there is increase in number of suicide cases day by day
in teenagers. This is a matter of worry. In prevention of suicide parents come first. In today’s
world of competition, parents are focusing more on physical and mental development
without caring about child’s emotional and spiritual development. A child learn most by
observation from parents .if parents teach them spiritual knowledge by prayers , do
meditations, make them learn how to handle failure in stand of just praising them for success
,spend quality time with child and tell examples and stories of ideal role models like mahatma
Gandhi, Dhirubhai Ambani, Rattan Tata, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein etc.. and making
environment friendly and peaceful in the family. From childhood teach them how to manage
anger and increase capacity to tolerate unfavourable situations.
Thus, suicide is preventable if we take care of little but more important aspect of the life.