Setting the facts straight on suicide and mental illness

Dear Editor,
Recently, on social media, former Government minister Clement Rohee posited some misinformed views on suicide. Those views need to be addressed.
Mr Rohee stated, “It is difficult to detect in advance someone who is prone to suicide. Somehow, prior to committing the act, they manage to elude by means known only to them, their closest relatives and friends who are incapable of spotting any unusual behavior on their part before they take their own life.”
Suicide ideation/suicidal mindset is really not difficult for anyone to be ‘incapable of spotting’ if that person knows what to look for. Actually, there are even clear and obvious warning signs that are easily discernible by anyone, but are usually ignored or passed off as ‘jokes’. The media is replete with cases of loved ones saying they never took seriously the strange behaviour of suicide victims, or language clearly stating that they would take their lives, especially if such statements were made before. Thus the need for citizens to be sensitised to the seriousness of these warning signs; and the need for immediate action.
Also, the implication that those who attempt suicide ‘elude’ those near and dear to them is an awful attempt to indict people suffering from mental illnesses. The fact is that 90% of people who die by suicide have a mental illness at the time of their death, so they are not thinking clearly or logically. In effect, a normal person cannot apply his/her thinking process to label suicide victims or survivors. As one person who lived through depression posted on Facebook recently, “it is unquestionably THE most misunderstood illness and the one most judged and misjudged by “normal” people”.
Mr. Rohee wrote, “It’s like assuming a Jekyll and Hyde or split personality just for that particular period prior to committing the act. Their transformation is somewhat ‘magical’ if not amazing!”
Like any other illness, there is nothing ‘magical’ or amazing about the suicidal mindset or suicide ideation, and it is certainly not indicative of any transformation. Thus to describe someone in such a state as assuming a Jekyll-and-Hyde or split personality is to victimise the victim. A suicidal mindset or suicide ideation is not reflective of a personality, but a mental illness, especially depression or anxiety. Mr. Rohee must be aware of the negative connotations of the word commit, but may not be aware that the person attempting or dying by suicide is a victim, not a perpetrator on any sort.
Also this view of suicide as Atmahaty in the Hindu texts is responsible for many suicides in Hindu families going unreported in a nation where there are hundreds of thousands of reported suicides each year –30% of the estimated one million annual suicides globally. Paradoxically, atmahatya, which means ‘murdering the soul or Self’, is contradicted in the Gita, which emphasises that the soul cannot be harmed in any way whatever. Ironically, suicide has historically been endorsed in India through ‘sati,’ whereby women were forced to jump into the funeral pyre of their dead husbands or collectively burn themselves during an invasion, as exemplified in the recent Bollywood historical dram Padmavati.
With respect to Mr Rohee’s reference to community involvement in helping to address suicide and abuse, may we point out that, next year, TCV plans to launch a lay-counselor training programme trained to detect and act on suicide warning signs, emphatic communication, and measures to help abuse victims or deal with abusive situations. Lay counselors/gatekeepers in every community can take proactive preventative actions.
Sincerely,
The Caribbean Voice