Why young people attempt suicide and how can we prevent suicide ?

What is Suicide ?

Suicide is an act of killing oneself. Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. In 2016 the number of suicides in India had increased to 230,314. Suicide was the most common cause of death in both the age groups of 15–29 years and 15–39 years. About 800,000 people die by suicide worldwide every year, of these 135,000 (17%) are residents of India Between 1987 and 2007, the suicide rate increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000 with higher suicide rates in southern and eastern states of India.

The rate of suicide among the youths is increasing due to the following reasons:

1) Education pressure : The youth today find themselves in competition with each other. Everyone wants to get excellent scores in their educational and professional courses. This is further aggravated by parental pressure of performing better in their exam. Some of the youth cannot sustain such pressure and the ones that succumb to the pressure commit suicide out of fear of failure.

2) Family problems : Some youths in India experience grave family problems which may result in suicide attempt by them. The major family problems may be Marital discord, divorced parents and poor parent-youth relationship.

3) Economic reasons : The youth feel that money is the most important thing in life. They cannot cope up with the increasing demand of enjoying luxuries of life, especially the one belonging to lower-middle class and middle-middle class. They may feel helpless and frustrated as they experience the

deficiency of money in their lives. Some youths may attempt suicide, who are unable cope up with this feeling.

4) Social circle : The youth constantly need approval and acceptance from their peer groups. If they fail to get it, they may develop a feeling of isolation and rejection. Chronic feeling of isolation and rejection may result in acute depression and they may decide to take an extreme step of suicide.

5) Alcoholism and Drug addiction : The elite youths feel that drinking Alcohol and taking drugs are the way of life. Most of the youths are unaware about their ill-effects. Some youths may resort to alcoholism or drug addiction due to feelings of Inferiority, curiosity etc. Sometimes these youths

overconsume such addictive substances, which may result in suicide.

Ways to prevent suicide :

1) Strengthen economic supports : We can prevent suicide by providing financial help to needy people.This can reduce their stress.

2) Government policies to reduce poverty : Various government policies can help the youths to fulfill their basic needs and help in their education which may reduce their stress and in this way suicide among the youths from poor. or lower-middle class can be prevented.

3) Create protective environment : Social and workplace environment should be protective to the mental health of a person.

4) Community based policies to reduce the use of addictive substances :

There should be policies related to use of alcohol. The use of drugs should be banned and the youth should be made aware of the ill-effects of the

consumption of such substances.

5) Promote connectedness : Peer norm programs and community engagement activities should be conducted so that people can connect and help each other in problems.

6) Identify and support people at risk : Treatment for persons at risk of suicide. Various programs to train people to handle their stress and to increase mental strength.