Increase in suicides amid epidemic

Priyanka Saurabh

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued an alert urging the international community to put more efforts to protect those facing increasing mental pressures. Every 40 seconds, somewhere in the world, someone takes his own life. The main causes of suicides are unemployment, terrible illness, family strife, struggle in marital life, poverty, mental disorder, failure in examination or in love. There are failures, economic disputes, political situations. Men commit more suicide than women. Similarly, a mental disorder due to mental problem, extreme anxiety, mental instability, neurological, always suffering from feeling of inferiority, being surrounded by despair, being overly emotional, angry or slave to desires, etc. are the major mental disorders under which a person commits suicide. An addict commits suicide even when unable to keep pace with social life due to a plethora of personal defects such as alcoholism, gambling, sexual assault, or criminal acts.
But today there are some cases around the world where people take their own lives due to fear of COVID-19 infection, social stigma, isolation, depression, anxiety, emotional imbalance, economic shutdown, lack and inappropriate knowledge, financial and future insecurity. With the recent suicide reports, we can estimate the impact of the virus on the incidence of suicide worldwide. The United Nations report also mentions the ‘Lancet Commission’ warning on global mental health and sustainable development, according to which many people, who manage themselves properly in the past may also face difficulties because of the epidemic. Many types of pressures have arisen due to this. There are many uncertainties before people and addiction to alcohol (alcohol), drugs, tobacco, and online games to handle themselves in these situations are increasing. Today, the first reason is social isolation or distance which is very important to avoid corona today, but this separation creates a lot of concern among the citizens.
People of all ages are surrounded by depression and loneliness. Due to which, suicidal thoughts are overflowing in them sitting empty. Isolation disrupts normal social life and causes psychological fear and feeling trapped indefinitely. The advice of working from home has restricted our social life. The lockout of the worldwide economic recession has led to insecurity leading to panic over the emerging economic crisis, massive unemployment, poverty, and homelessness, possibly increasing the risk of suicide or increasing suicide attempts in such patients. Stress, anxiety, and pressure in medical health professionals are at their peak today. 50% of medical staff in British hospitals are ill. In London, a young nurse took her own life while treating COVID-19 patients, social exclusion and discrimination have also added some cases to the COVID-19 suicide list. For example, the first COVID-19 suicide case in Bangladesh, where a 36-year-old man committed suicide due to social avoidance by neighbours and to prevent the virus in his community.
Indeed, the increasing trend of suicide is purely a sociological phenomenon. Today, the person is stealing from the harsh truths of his life and filling himself with frustration and discontent. Sociology of suicide suggests that a person’s frustration begins with the stress that leads him to suicide. It is surprising that in a religious and spiritual-rich country like India, about one-third of the total population is living in a state of severe depression. There is a need to set limits on COVID-19 related news from local, national, international, social, and digital platforms to evacuate people from emotional distress and all of which should be authentic from the WHO. Today, we need to maintain connectedness and solidarity despite physical distance. Individuals with suicidal thoughts, panic and stress disorder, low self-esteem, and low self-worth are easily susceptible to paranoid thinking such as suicide in a viral epidemic. We need to look at the causes of suicide very carefully, where people often say ‘I am tired of life’, ‘No one loves me’, ‘Leave me alone’ and so on.