Understanding suicide (Prevalence, causes, risk factors, prevention)

Compiled by Oviya. E

   SUICIDE is a social issue. Empower people has taken the initiative to create awareness on suicide. Mental health experts have joined this webinar to speak on this alarming topic.

  Dr. Sharol Fernandes, consulting Psychiatrist, Ms. Anuradha Karegar, counseling Psychologist join us in the webinar. The panelists for this webinar are Sumati Rani and Amruta Khare. The webinar is moderated by Reema K Thunderbolt.

   Dr. Sharol started her session by stating that suicide is an act of killing oneself. It is a social problem and affects a community. Self-reservation is the act of doing anything to save oneself from a situation.

    The prevalence of suicide is increasing every day. Suicide is responsible for more deaths than malaria, breast cancer, war, or even homicide, according to the WHO. Close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year. She presented the data of suicides nationally and globally.

   The most common methods of killing oneself are self -poisoning, hanging and firearms. It is important for us to know the methods in order to find out the preventive measures.

    Reasons for suicide arise in the following grounds:

·       Marital status

·       Education

·       Occupation

·       Family support

·       Psychiatric illness

People prone to these illnesses are more likely to attempt suicide:

·       Depression

·       Bipolar illness

·       Schizophrenia

·       People with substance use like alcohol misuse.

Precipitating factors/stressors:

·    Preceded by notable life events, in particular interpersonal or health-related events.

·    Negative lie events, stress, object loss, and negative interaction needs.

·    Other suicidal triggers include physical illness, bankruptcy, illicit relationships, and drug intoxication.

There are a few protective factors for one with suicidal thoughts. They are:

·       Relationship responsibilities

·       Children

·       Religious beliefs

·       Social and family support

·       Coping skills

Prevention for suicide:

·       Awareness

·       Early intervention

·       Treatment

·       Promote right coping strategies

·       Support groups

Ms. Anuradha started her presentation mentioning the importance of seeking help. She spoke about myths and misconceptions. Some of the myths are:

·       People who talk about suicide won’t really do it

·       Anyone who tries to kill themselves must be crazy

·       If someone is determined to kill themselves, nothing is going to stop them

·       People who die by suicide are people who were unwilling to seek help

·       Talking about suicide may give someone the idea.

She also discussed the do’s and don’ts. It is mandatory to get support at times of depression and anxiety.

          Examples of such supports are:

·       Professional help

·       Follow up on treatment

·       Be proactive

·       Encourage positive lifestyle changes

·       Make a safety plan

·       Remove potential means of suicide

·       Continue your support over the long haul.

 

It is advised to consult a Psychiatrist if one has a family history of suicide. It is not necessary if the individual does not face any signs.

Ms.Sumati brought to our notice how these issues are not tangible yet important. It is important to help people with depression and anxiety.

Ms. Amruta Khare spoke about media and its impact on mental health.

This session is a must-watch in order to create awareness against the evil in disguise-suicide.

 

 

 

REPORT ON PSYCH TALK: Why you cannot fully trust your judgement Cognitive Bias and Heuristics

-         AARUSHI JAIN

 

 

During this Psych Talk, Sumati and Shivani are going to share with us a folly we often make as human beings, which is, that our judgement in different matters is quite foolproof. This session was held on 10^th August 2020,Monday at 8:00p.m.

Heuristics aka mental short-cuts can actually get the better of us many a times and they actually do whether we like it or not.

There is effect on decision making within strategic innovation management as well as how to minimize their effects so that team members can contribute optimally to the fuzzy innovation process.

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." - Albert Einstein

Society Today Psych Talk- Heuristics

But there is a certain 'cost for making quick judgement along with its potential benefits.

One of the most useful tactic is 'heuristics

Heuristics are simple set of rules for making complex decisions or drawing inferences in a rapid and efficient manner

Limited mental Capacity                                  

At any given time, we are capable of handling a certain amount of information additional method this input beyond INFORMATIONAL OVERLOAD (where demands on our cognitive system are greater than its capacity).

To deal with such situations, we adopt various strategies designed to stretch cognitive resources to let us do more, with less efforts than would otherwise be in the case.

A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment. Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's construction of reality, not the objective input, may dictate their behavior in the world.

Especially under the uncertainty where the Correct answer is difficult to know or would take great deal of effort.

Easier it is to bring info to mind, the greater is its impact on subsequent judgement or decisions.

The fact that we quickly bring it to our mind suggest that it may indeed be frequent or important so it should influence our judgement and decisions.

Judgement can never be trusted as it’s biased from clients and receiver sides. The perspective can be changed even within the time period. We see people isolated. For these we have decentralization and deconditioning as we have negative experiences so we should have an exposure toward the positive side also.

Even at a point of time the media was so critical about the strongly influences which was biased but gradually things have changed according to the time. So if we towards backward only then it is not possible.

So in crux we see why we cannot trust and what are the major changes and how can these be cured with the time. So it is important to know about these two aspects as it have more sub divisions which are very vast. This was the episode no-7 organized by empower people.

 

 

Presenting to you a screening of the documentary feature film NARI by chai Dingari and Indian American filmmaker visit in New York city.

Watch the documentary with us on 8 August 2020 at 8 p.m. IST and stay back for a candid conversation with the filmmaker Chai dingari and his mother durga dingari who is also the producer of this film. Composite view of a woman's life in present day.

Nari work with local NGOs unions and other community organisations on location to provide an inside look to many private and previously off-limits faces the resulting film lets the subjects tell their own stories in their own words and try to give a voice to the voiceless in a broad cross-section of Indian society.

Split into four chapters the film begins with portraits of old days and progresses backwards down to youth through the structure several teams image hope and loss ideals and reality dreams and regret the importance and power of literacy is emphasized as we see firsthand how even a little bit of education in change angles life forever.

The location include the girls tribal welfare school list in woods of West Godavari and all girls school with alright children where we hear from angles with strong personalities and hunger of living learning .

They visit a women's welfare centre in Hyderabad and hear from passionate adolescence who have fought with their own families for the day higher education

 

Women at an old age ashram in malkajgiri else's tales of loneliness abonnement and heartbreak.

 Feminist writer satyavati kondaveeti lends her voice to give a historical and social contest to the tales we hear and poem by famous poets Nirmala Kondapuri throughout emphasise the themes of the piece.

 This word is framed by conversation with the filmmakers own mother and grandmother learning a personal trust to the narrative.

 The filmmakers mother singari also a producer or not is a journalist who work done pieces about child labour and women's issues in the 1980 and 90s before she moved to America for her own husbands job.