A groundbreaking study finds that suicide is the second-leading cause of death in the 15-29 age group, with the trend especially pronounced in the country's south.
Udayan Namboodiri June 30, 2012 People in his neighborhood remember Kunju Shivankutty as a likable youth. But the 20-year-old, from Manjeri in North Kerala, was troubled deeply by having failed three times to pass the admissions test for a government-run engineering college. On August 15th, 2011, coinciding with India's Independence Day, Shivankutty wrote a letter to his parents. "I am sorry, Acchan-Amma (Dad-Mum), for not having been a good son. I could not fulfill your dreams for me. I let you down before the relatives. Shame is the only feeling I have at present and I can't bear it any more. Please forget about me." Then he hung himself. His father Parameswaran, a transport company employee, had invested heavily in his son's education, hoping the boy could lift the family's circumstances by becoming a career engineer - a sure road to middle-class prosperity. Such familial pressure, however, can push a young person to the breaking point."The case of failing one's parents, or not succeeding in meeting targets set by the family, is one of the chief reasons for young Malayalis [a Kerala ethnic group] taking the extreme step," P.B. Mathew, a Jesuit priest in Kottayam Kerala, told Khabar South Asia. On June 22nd, Lancet, the reputed British medical journal, published findings which show that suicide is now the second most common cause of death among young people in India between the ages of 15 and 29 - after road accidents for men, and childbirth complications for women. The results have sent shock waves through a country, which views its youthful population as its greatest resource. More than 70% of India's population of 1.2 billion is under 32 years of age. More than 187,000 Indians committed suicide in 2010. Of these, 40% of the men and 56% of the women were in the 15-29 age group, according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which conducted the study. The problem appears to be especially severe in the four southern states of Tamil Nadu Lakshadweep, Karnataka and Kerala. Though they account for 24% of India's population, these states registered around 42% of the country's suicides among men, and 40% among women, the study found. Other experts see an even more alarming disparity. According to K. Nagaraj, senior economist at the Madras Institute of Development Studies in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the suicide rate in the four southern states may be nearly three times the national average. Paradoxically, these four states have also witnessed robust socioeconomic development. Some analysts say that expectations have risen as well, fuelling youthful worries about success. "The development indicators of education, health, sanitation and women's empowerment are all high in the southern states," Nagaraj told Khabar. "Yet, we see the suicides growing among the youth." "It is my estimate that the societies in these states are seeing aspirations zoom," he said, adding, "This is perhaps leading to greater incidence of depression." Pressure to achieve Former government Education Secretary Shamlal Garg told Khabar that "fear of family embarrassment" is a common thread running through Indian society. In his view, the post-1991 economic liberalisation programme caused an exponential rise in middle class incomes, but also increased the opportunities for perceived failure. "A civilisation which was not very familiar with symbols of wealth and celebrated simplicity in lifestyle became, in the course of a generation, obsessed with upward mobility and all the good things that come with it," Garg said. "This led to the cult of success which not everybody could belong to." Pulkit Sharma, a clinical psychologist at New Delhi's Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences, told Khabar "a combination of many factors, all with frustration over non-achievement of goals, is driving up the suicide rate". Counseling in the private sector A spokesman for the suicide prevention group Connecting says the trend is reflected in a growing number of calls to its hotline. "In 2010 we used to receive an average of 80 calls from people per day. Now we get more than 150. The callers range from 12-to-80 years old and complain of worthlessness in their lives," said Adithy, a spokesman for the Pune-based NGO. The findings could spur calls for more comprehensive prevention efforts in a country which has so far been slow to tackle the issue at the governmental level. "The government is shocked by reports of the rising incidence of suicide among young people," Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on TV after the report was released. "We are taking stock of the situation." He acknowledged, however, that the government currently has no official national strategy for addressing the problem. According to London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine professor Vikram Patel, the lead author of the study published in Lancet, this is a gap which needs to be filled. "India should also start mental health promotion for young people through schools and colleges and introduce crisis counseling services and services for treatment of depression and alcohol addiction," The Times of India quoted him as saying. http://khabarsoutheastasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2012/06/30/feature-01 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. 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