Why are our children committing suicide?

The responsibility lies on parents and teachers collectively to keep an eye on their children and look for signs and symptoms of depression which is getting more common in children and young adults due to the stressful environment at home or in society

The World Health Organisation and the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) observed the World Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday. On this day we discuss the growing number of children suicide cases in the city.

Lata Jain

Karthik was hardly 13-years-old when he committed suicide. According to media reports, he hung himself from the ceiling fan after his teacher punished him and charged Rs 5 after forcing him to speak English in class.

In the past three months more than nine children (official reports) committed suicides for various reasons. Dr Narmada, Chief of Psychiatry, Mind Clinic said that the genetic, environmental and temperamental factors contribute to the predisposition of suicide among children. She further explains that genetic factors like any mental disorder that runs in the family, environmental or stress related factors in the household or society and temperamental factors like differences amongst attitude and emotional reasons drives a child to attempt suicide.

The responsibility lies on parents and teachers collectively to keep an eye on their children and look for signs and symptoms of depression which is getting more common in children and young adults due to the stressful environment at home or in society. Among the adults it is far easier to detect causes of what Fromm says a ‘paralysis of productive powers’. But in children it is difficult to diagnose the symptoms leading to suicide. Scolding a child on the street, or school is a cognisable offence in many developed countries. In our society it is a norm. In schools, there is no mechanism to measure a child’s mental productivity. How many of us are aware of the facility called ‘child psychologist’?

There are statistics which indicate at the deteriorating socio-economic conditions to be the biggest cause behind this ‘malaise’. Statistics may belie human tragedies but the facts are too grim and revealing to be minced: 8.3 % of the 40 million children between the age of 5-14 are subject to child labour, and according to UNICEF, 25 million children are out of school, while the population density per square kilometers is 222 persons; and in one year (2011) 2,252 children are sexually abused throughout the country. These figures are enough to drive even the sanest of souls crazy, if not suicidal.

The reasons for child suicides can be various, dispersed, and even discursive. But a child confined between the inadequate atmospheres of school and home is vulnerable to psychological and physical violence. In religious seminaries, especially in the rural areas, the children are more susceptible to child abuse.

Schools should have counselling system through teachers and they should also treat children individually because some of the teachers’ actions can be very damaging to the children who have fragile personalities. Schools should also bear the responsibility of observing the children for bullying and counsellors should be there to do the on-spot screening of children who are suffering from bullying behaviors of other children. Proper psychiatric workshops should be held around the country to spread awareness among the parents and teachers.

There are many organizations, NGO and clinics supporting this cause. Today many universities have counselling centers to prevent this cowardly act. Schools are also beginning to plan the need of counselling centers and many international schools have a counsellor, a psychiatrist within the school premises. But this is not sufficient to combat the number of suicides.

Peer support has long been recognised as important in prevention. Those bereaved by suicide loss – that is, the family and friends of people who have died by suicide – form an essential and active part of the suicide prevention community. It is difficult to think of a major suicide prevention organisation or initiative that does not include persons bereaved by suicide. Those who have lost a loved one to suicide are reaching out and supporting one another in support groups as well as providing support and advocacy for suicide prevention.