It’s time to work together to prevent suicide

A person’s state of mind can change every second. Therefore you may feel happy in one instance and extremely low in the other and vice versa. When you feel low you feel like the whole world is going against you resulting in a state of low self-worth. This is one of the triggers to take one’s life. But as psychiatrists point out, suicide has a spectrum of intentionality. 

Even though suicide prevention day is confined to one date by the WHO, suicides have become a common occurrence in Sri Lanka and around the world. Local statistics provided by Sri Lanka Sumithrayo reveals that as many as 3135 suicides have taken place in 2019 alone. Hence this year’s theme is Working Together to Prevent Suicide and according to Dr. Udena Attygalle, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila a holistic approach is needed to find a solution to this issue. “Therefore mental health services alone aren’t enough. Many other institutions also have to be involved in the prevention approach. Certain countries have also adopted suicide prevention policy documents.” said  Dr. Attygalle. The Mirror Health Capsule learned that Sri Lanka has a National Policy and Action Plan on the Prevention of Suicide introduced back in 1997. But times have certainly changed and objectives too need to be redefined. 

Speaking further Dr. Attygalle said that vulnerable groups could either commit suicide or do Deliberate Self Harm (DSH). “Suicide has a spectrum of intentionality. This means there are different models. For example one could be motivational and there could be factors that would push a person to end his life. Then factors such as temperament, the environment that person is in, family and so on also come into play. Suddenly when you’re in that state you have volition, either by means of access to tablets etc. But situations differ. If you don’t have access or what it takes to end your life your mind will change. However DSH could be more frequent among young people. A person would engage in an act of self-harm without a clear intention of dying,” the doctor explained. 

There is also a group of victims who have failed their first attempts and according to him a first attempt is a good indicator that person might go for another attempt. 

When asked what needs to be done if a person is in distress, Dr. Attygalle said that it’s best not to avoid it. “Rather than thinking of what needs to be done to stop him you should find out his actual needs, why didn’t that person tell it to someone else and what does he need from you. If the distress is understood that would be enough to stop him,” he added. 

His message to people feeling low or is in a state of low self-worth is that everything is a state of mind. “Therefore at one moment you will feel low and the next moment you will feel elated and happy. So these individuals should know that help is available. They should know that whatever you think of when you are feeling low is not going to be useful for you. When you’re feeling that way don’t do anything. You might even be thankful that you didn’t take that decision later on,”  
said Dr. Attygalle.