MOFIYINFOLUWA ADEOBA Writes From Lagos.
Suicide is associated with impulsivity. Although we know that suicidal process can take weeks, months or even years, the fatal transition from suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts to an actual completed suicide often occurs unexpectedly and impulsively especially among youths.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in childhood and adolescents worldwide.
Suicide is a fatal self injurious act with some evidence of intent to die. Worldwide, more than 800,000 people die due to suicide every year.
Suicide does not only results in a direct loss of many young lives, but also has disruptive psychosocial and adverse socio-economic effects. From the perspective of public mental health, suicide among young people is one of the main issues to address through effective preventive measures. Therefore, it is important to gain as much insight as possible in the risk factors contributing to suicidal behaviors among youths.
The definition of youth in terms of strict age ranges varies by country and overtime. Suicide under the age of 5 is hard to find. Most literature on youth suicide refers to school age children (7-12yrs) and adolescents(13-20yrs).
These young people are by nature vulnerable to mental health problems, especially during the years of adolescence. This period in life is characterized by movement, changes and transition from one stage into another,in several domains at the same time. Young people have to make decisions about important concrete directions in life e.g school, living situation, peer group e.t.c.
They must also address new challenges with regard to building their own identity, developing self-esteem, acquiring increasing independence and responsibilities, building new intimate relationship e.t.c.
In the meantime,they are subject to ongoing, changing psychological and physical processes themselves. And besides that they are often confronted with high expectations, sometimes too much or high, from relatives and peers. Such situations inevitably provoke a certain degree of helplessness insecurity, stress and a sense of losing control.
To address these problems and successfully cope with these emotions, young people must have access to significant supporting resources such as a stable living situation, intimate friendships,a structural frame work and economic resources.
Risk factors can be seen as factors that undermine this support or hinder access to these resources or serve as a buffer against risk factors. Everyone agrees that numerous factors can contribute to suicide and that each suicide is caused by a highly unique, dynamic and complex interplay of genetic, biological, psychological and social factors.
Nevertheless, it is possible to identify different types of factors that are clearly associated with an increased risk of youth suicide, so this is highly relevant with regard to prevention.
Most studies agree that suicide is closely linked to mental disorder. About 90% of people who commit suicide have suffered from at least one mental disorder. Mental disorders are found to contribute between 47% and 49% of suicide risk.
Substance abuse and more specifically alcohol misuse,is also strongly associated with suicide risk, especially in older adolescents. Association have also been found between suicide and anxiety disorder, but it is difficult to assess the influence of mood and substance abuse disorder that are also often present.
Depression is also associated with suicide that is the word “Depression” is tossed around casually, but in reality the condition can be quite debilitating. People with major depressive disorder (also known as clinical, major or unipolar depression) exist beyond the realm of sadness. In fact they can feel numb to the world and often become lethargic and lose interest in people and activities that formerly gives them joy. When the disorder is at its most severe,people with depression may even experience psychosis- seeing or hearing things that aren’t there.
Unsurprisingly, the more the severe the depression symptoms the more likely the person is at risk for suicide.
Young people who commits suicide were also found to have had poorer problem solving problems than their peers.
Their behavior was characterized by a rather passive attitude, waiting for someone else to solve the problems as well as for more complex interpersonal problems.
Furthermore, violence at home often seems to be found in the background history of young suicide cases, not only specifically against the child, but more as a way of dealing with problems between family members.
Other concrete stressful events associated with suicide bullying,cyber bullying, mental and physical/sexual abuse and disciplinary trouble.
The only way forward is to reduce these risk factors and strengthen protective factors as much as possible by providing integrated and multi-sector(primary, secondary and tertiary) prevention initiatives. Key prevention strategies can be population based(e.g mental health promotion, education awareness by campaigns on mental resilience, careful media coverage, limited access to means of committing suicide).
To increase successful attempts to address youth suicide in the future,further unraveling of the complex suicide process must be accompanied by sustained and substantial efforts in scientifically underpinning and (re)evaluating ongoing and new prevention strategy plans, and this is largely a matter of policy priorities and commitment.
