Suicides among children up to 14 years

2008

No. of boys who killed themselves: 275

Causes:
Exam failure: 44
Family problems: 49
Unknown: 82
Other causes: 73

No. of suicides among girls: 241

Causes:
Exam failure: 41
Family probs: 30
Affairs: 35
Unknown: 58

Other causes: 49

Boys + girls = 516

Look, Ma, I am dead!

West Bengal has become the teen suicide capital of India. Hemchhaya De finds out why

Mrinalini Banerjee is frantic with worry. Her daughter, who’s in her early teens, claims to be in love with her 55-year-old private tutor, who professes love for her as well. Banerjee, who works at a multinational company in Calcutta, has barred the tutor from entering her house, but her daughter continues to be in touch with him.

“They talk to each other over the phone. My daughter has become very aggressive these days. I can’t make her visit you,” Banerjee tells a Calcutta-based psychiatrist to whom she has turned for help.

The psychiatrist is worried too — fearful that Banerjee’s unhappy daughter may take her life. “She is showing signs of it,” says the therapist. “The girl might have developed some kind of sexual dependence on the man. She comes from a broken home. Hence she has turned to an outsider for emotional succour. If she is forced to sever ties with the man, she may attempt suicide.”

Nisha, another teenager, did just that. A few years ago, when she was 14, she made several attempts to kill herself over a failed love affair. “I was hospitalised five times in one month. At that time, I was going through a very bad phase. I lost interest in life, always felt drowsy and there was this feeling of guilt that I might be doing something wrong and that I should punish myself,” says Nisha, who’s been undergoing therapy for the past five years.

Her psychiatrist says that she has to continue her treatment. This is because a person who has made a suicide attempt is more likely to complete it than one who has only reached the stage of suicidal thoughts.

Nisha has been saved. But not many are fortunate to get help in the nick of time. According to the State Crime Records Bureau, more and more children aged up to 14 are committing suicide every year. In 2008, 516 children committed suicide across West Bengal. In 2007, 419 children killed themselves; in 2006, the number was 334.

Some psychiatrists say that 9-14 is a vulnerable age group. “The risk factors for adolescents or young adults include frequent mood swings, impulsive behaviour, aggression and dichotomous thinking. They generally think in black and white during this period. So if anything doesn’t fit into this scheme, they lose their balance,” explains Sanjay Sen, consultant psychiatrist, AMRI Hospitals.

In fact, West Bengal accounts for the highest percentage of suicides — 16.9 per cent — among children aged up to 14 years in the country, says the last available report (2007) on Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau. Bengal is followed by Andhra Pradesh (315), Karnataka (236) and Madhya Pradesh (205).

Clearly, in the early teen category, West Bengal is the suicide capital of India.

Strikingly too, many of the suicides occur in the districts, with Nadia (59 in 2008), Jalpaiguri (55) and North 24 Parganas (48) topping the list. That’s attributed to examination pressure. “The pressure is higher in the small towns of Bengal because there is less awareness in these areas about stress management among children and teachers are less equipped to deal with the mental health problems of students,” says Rima Mukherjee, a Calcutta-based psychiatrist. “The pressure begins at the age of 12-13 when parents are desperate to push their children into academic streams that can help them become doctors, engineers or chartered accountants.”

Yet cold statistics can hardly lay bare the terrible pain a teen suicide can cause a family. “We had a loving family. I couldn’t see any sign of depression in my girl. It was just an ordinary day when she chose to end her life,” says Sebanti Ghosh, a housewife in Calcutta. About 15 years ago, her teenage daughter, who studied in a well known south Calcutta school, killed herself by consuming pesticide because her father was opposed to her growing intimacy with a local boy. Her father died a few years later, unable to deal with the loss. “My younger daughter, in school then, had a trying time. Her friends used to discuss her sister’s death among themselves,” says Ghosh.

One of the major problems is that signs of depression cannot be easily detected in children, especially those between 9 and 14. “Often, the symptoms are entirely invisible,” admits Chayanika Singh, a city-based clinical and child psychologist.

But studies have shown that one in two youths who killed themselves talked to their parents or peers about suicide, says Paramita Mitra Bhaumik, consultant clinical and rehabilitation psychologist who’s associated with the Belle Vue Clinic in Calcutta.

Mental health experts also point out that most of the suicides in the 9 to 14 age category are acts of impulse or aggression. “Generally speaking, suicide needs a lot of aggression to overcome our basic human instinct to protect our lives. This level of impulse or aggression is usually very high among children or teenagers,” says Sen.

Mental health experts normally deal with three kinds of suicide cases — attempted suicides, completed suicides and self-harm cases. “There is an increasing tendency among teenagers these days to inflict self-harm — like slashing their wrists. This category runs a higher risk of suicide. We are increasingly getting such cases in our clinics,” says Bhaumik.

Depression among children or adolescents also seems to be on the rise in the state. The Child Development Centre at Apollo Gleneagles, Calcutta, has registered a 15-20 per cent rise in child depression cases, says Jai Ranjan Ram, a consultant psychiatrist there.

“This trend is alarming because generally two thirds of suicide cases can be linked to depression,” says Sen.

Most deaths — 70 per cent, estimates Mukherjee — are related to exam pressure. Economist Avirup Sarkar explains why. “Bengal is unique in this regard. Our socio-economic aspirations are inextricably linked to education. This can be the single most important factor that contributes to the high rate of teen suicide in Bengal.”

“I deal with parents who tell their children, ‘Why don’t you die?’ if they get poor grades,” says Mukherjee. “I get 5-10 per cent more cases during the time of exams or results.”

A volunteer at a suicide-prevention helpline in Calcutta, who prefers not to be identified, agrees that the period of board exams and results are a stressful time. “We get numerous calls from distraught teenagers around exam time. Sometimes they are apprehensive that their results might not meet parents’ expectations and they fear meeting relatives who constantly ask them how they have fared,” he says. “At this time, they do get suicidal thoughts.”

Teen infatuation and family problems are other areas of concern. “I get cases even from far-flung areas like Bolpur where children feel angry and suicidal because they have seen parents break up, thanks to extra-marital affairs,” says Bhaumik.

State records also show that “unknown” causes account for a huge number of suicides among children aged up to 14. In 2008, there were 262 such cases, 233 in 2007 and 42 in 2006.

“Suicide is still a stigma in our society. So many people wouldn’t even report suicides in their families,” says Sunit Kaur, deputy director, Lifeline Foundation, which runs a helpline in Calcutta.

Satyajit Ash, psychiatrist and founder-member of Mon Foundation which promotes mental health among students in Bengal, offers an explanation for the “unknown” causes. “We tend to focus on the precipitating factor or the trigger rather than the core issue. For example, we say that a child killed himself because his teacher rebuked him. So we point the finger at the teacher, overlooking the fact that the child might already have been facing some inner turmoil before he took a drastic step. So we term the cause ‘frivolous’ without delving into what actually ailed the child,” he says.

He feels that life skill education (where students learn how to manage time, cope with failure, show empathy, resist drugs and other addictions and so on) which helps children cope with everyday stress can be effective in preventing suicide. “Teachers have to be sensitised or trained in detecting signs in children. Unlike Kerala or Maharashtra, West Bengal is still not implementing life skill education effectively,” he says.

However, the West Bengal school education department says that it already has a system in place. “We call it ‘lifestyle education’ modelled on Unicef guidelines. It is being implemented in all government schools. Teachers are being trained as well. Mental hygiene is very much a part of it,” says D.G. Ghatak, deputy director, school education department, West Bengal.

Some private schools have been taking this seriously. “I was invited to conduct workshops in more than 40 schools last year,” says Salony Priya, counselling psychologist, associated with Heritage School and DPS Megacity, Calcutta.

But counsellors say that the onus is ultimately on parents. “If you want to save your child, look within,” Singh says. After all, the deaths don’t come without a warning. Pay heed before it’s too late.

Worry over high student suicide rate in India

Its main cause? The pressure to do well in school, said a Times of India (TOI) report.

And the pressure is not from teachers but from parents,the report added.

India has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and recent studies suggest about 40 percent are adolescents.

At least 125 people aged 29 years or below are committing suicide every day and 51 per cent of the total suicide victims are graduates, college students or younger.

In several cases, students commit suicide after failing exams, according to local newspaper reports.

In Mumbai alone, 25 students have taken their lives since beginning of the year, leaving parents, teachers and officials struggling to understand the reason behind the deaths.

High marks, college admissions

Mr Mahesh Poddar is one such grieving parent as his daughter, Mini, committed suicide in 2001 when she was 15 years old.

She was distraught about college admissions and had just missed out on getting into the college of her choice.

Union human resource minister Kapil Sibal said that the sudden spike in suicides among students is a result of the growing parental pressures on the child to beat his peers, said TOI.

In many cases, the trigger appears to be academic pressure, said a report in CNN.

India's education system is based on rote learning, or memorisation, with a strong emphasis on scoring high marks.

Authorities are organising counselling sessions, said MrSanjay Kumar, education secretary of Maharashtra state, in which Mumbai is located.

The suicides were a wake-up call for educators, said Mrs Sangeeta Srivastava, principal of Sardar Vallabhai Patel Vidyala, a government school in North Mumbai.

Though none of the recent suicide cases in the city involved students from her school, she is worried.

Recently, a student from her school ran away from home before exams.

She said: "As teachers, we have a lot of effect on the students, even more than parents have."

Some of these reasons, which mental health experts term 'acute stress factors,' include:

• Family conflicts, domestic violence, academic failures, and unfulfilled romantic ideals.
• Voracious appetite for high-end consumer goods spurred by moneylenders and hire-purchase schemes.
• The wide gap between people's aspirations and actual capabilities.
• The disintegration of traditional social support mechanisms as was prevalent in joint families.
• Emergence of a trend towards nuclear families, alcohol abuse, financial instability and family dysfunction.
• A growing population of the aged.
• Failure of crops, huge debt burdens, growing costs of cultivation, and shrinking yield.

Two years ago, the National Crime Records Bureau noted that out of every three cases of suicide reported every 15 minutes in the country, one involves a youth in the age group of 15 to 29. 'Youth and middle-aged (30 to 44 years) are the prime groups taking recourse to the path of suicide. Of the total suicide victims, around 37.6 per cent are youths in the age group of 15 to 29 years,' the Bureau said in a report.

Student suicides rock Mumbai

V Narayan, TNN, Jan 5, 2010, 02.44am IST

MUMBAI: Three students, including an 11-year-old reality show participant, committed suicide here between Saturday and Monday. While the motive behind Class VII student Shushant Patil's suicide on Monday is as yet unknown, police have cited pressure to perform well in studies as a possible reason for the suicides of reality star Neha Sawant and an 18-year-old medical student.

Class VI student Neha was found hanging by a dupatta to a ceiling rod inside her Sai Darshan Apartment house, Dombivli, in neighbouring Thane district on Saturday morning, police said. She had participated in three TV dance reality shows, including the popular Boogie Woogie, and was a student at a dance academy. Police suspect she might have taken the step after her family took her out of the academy as they wanted her to concentrate on her studies.

In a similar incident, a medical student ended her life by hanging at her residence in suburban Powai. Police said the student was allegedly depressed for having failed in exams.

Dadar's Shardashram School student Shushant Patil hanged himself from the shower valve in the school's bathroom on Monday morning. His body was discovered by a fellow student.

The police are of the opinion that Sushant had planned to end his life, as he had a nylon rope in his bag which he carried with him to the bathroom. ACP (Dadar division) Madhukar Sankhe said the boy also took along a wooden stool along. "He climbed onto the stool and hanged himself," he said.

Sushant was said to be depressed after he discovered that he had failed in four out of six subjects in his mid-semester exam results declared eight days ago. Sushant's distraught parents are not willing to believe that poor marks forced their son to take his life. The deceased's uncle, Shrikant Patil, told TOI that no one from the family was even aware that Sushant had failed in four subjects. "We've never scolded him on account of poor scores," he said.

"I don't believe Sushant did this because his results were poor," a faculty member agreed. But he revealed that the boy had been depressed of late. "His father admitted to us that he was depressed and had attempted to slash his wrists a few days ago. I feel this must have happened due to some family problem. He was a quiet, average student, very regular at school." The police do not suspect foul play, even though Sushant left no suicide note.

Competition pressure and stress on children starts right after their 2nd birthday.

One student, Sushant Patil, 12, was found Monday in the school’s toilet, while another student, Bajanjit Kaur, 18, was found hanging from the ceiling fan at her home in Powai and the third child, Neha Sawant, 12, was found hanging to a ceiling rod inside her apartment.

Prior to committing suicide, Kaur, a first-year student of physiotherapy D.Y. Patil Medical College in Navi Mumbai who had failed clear three subjects in her second semester exams, wrote on the wall of her room, “I have to achieve my goal by securing good marks.”

Neha had participated in three TV dance reality shows, including the famous “Boogie Woogie.” As a student of a dance academy, she excelled in different forms of dances.

A few months ago, Neha’s family had pulled her out of the academy, as they wanted her to concentrate on her studies.

This news surfaced all over the media yesterday, and chilled most of us. The parents of these children are in deep grief. The question that rose in my mind was, “was it stress, confusion, pressure or motivation?”
A child should have no reason to know the spelling of ’suicide’, let alone to commit it. How does an 11 or even 12-year-old go through the motions involved in hanging oneself? How do their little fingers manage to tie the slip knot?

What are we doing to our kids? Why our teens are killing themselves? Reason is simple child is under pressure to perform. Parent’s attitude ‘ see what Mr. Rameshwar’s child is doing, taking so many tuition and scoring highest marks ’ is just pressurizingchildren to over perform. How can everyone be first?

Is the cremation of your child’s dreams more important than what society will say?

How many kids will die before Indian parents learn that let kids pursue their dreams instead of forcing their own whims on them?
Parents believe that best is what they want and they don’t realize dreams of their children. Their over burdening expectations are making children struggle to achieve things that are not in their forte. The childhood of the child is snatched in one go.

Someone has quoted well “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”Recently released movies” Tare Jamin Pe” and “3idiots “staring Amir Khan pictured the same concept very well. The only need is to adopt it.

Dr Shubhangi Parker, head of psychiatry department at KEM Hospital, said, “Parents must understand that the age group from seven- to 18 years has low levels of tolerance and gets frustrated easily. It’s also when they respond strongly to humiliation and failure.”

A study proves that 70% of urban parents force their children to take up the professions or courses they want them to, as compared to only 15% in semi urban and rural areas. Children are not provided freedom to choose their own areas of interest.Children are not allowed to do what they feel interesting.

When children don’t get success in what their parents like the system makes them believe that are not capable enough.

Our society believes that science graduates are more intellectual than arts students. Today, when alternative career opportunities like music, dance and photography are springing out and creating good financial gains, we must open up our minds and must look ahead.

We must realize that success is not pursuing the most sought after goal or profession; it is the excellence we achieve in what we are good at.

Myths and Facts about Suicide

It is a myth that: "People who talk about suicide do not commit suicide."

The Fact : The majority of people who attempt suicide do or say something to express their intention before they act. Statements like, "I wish I was dead" or "You'll be sorry when I'm gone," are likely.

It is a myth that: "Suicide happens without warning."

The Fact: Suicidal persons give many clues and warnings - both verbal and non-verbal - regarding their suicidal intentions.

It is a myth that: " Suicidal people are fully intent on dying. Nothing can stop them."

The Fact: Even the most severely depressed person has ambivalent feelings about suicide. Suicidal people do not want to die, they just want their pain to end. If allowed to explore their feelings, with empathy and acceptance, without intruding into their dignity, most suicidal people feel that their pain is lessened. In time, suicidal feelings might dissipate and the person returns to active life.

It is a myth that: "All suicidal individuals are mentally ill"

Most people undergoing suicidal feelings are healthy individuals. They may be upset, grief-stricken, depressed or despairing, but are not necessarily suffering from mental illness.

It is a myth that: "Talking about suicide may give someone the idea."

The Fact: Openly addressing the subject shows a willingness to help and is the first step towards providing help. Talking with someone about his or her suicidal feelings that were already there can lead to a lightening of painful thoughts. Self-destructive feelings, if absent, will NOT be introduced just by talking about suicide.

A suicidal individual is disturbed by:

· Rejection by fellow-beings. Having someone to turn to makes all the difference.

· Advices. No one likes to be lectured about his/her own life.

· Criticism. Harsh judgmental attitudes can be very hurting.

A suicidal individual feels relieved by:

· Someone who will listen to them - Someone who has the time, who will provide undivided attention in a non-critical manner without trying to advice or intrude.

· Someone whom they can trust - Someone who will treat them with dignity and keep their confidentiality.

It is estimated that over 100,000 people die by suicide in India every year. India alone contributes to more than 10% of suicides in the world. The suicide rate in India has been increasing steadily and has reached 10.5 (per 100,000 of population) in 2006 registering a 67% increase over the value of 1980. Majority of suicides occur among men and in younger age groups. Despite the gravity of the problem, information about the causes and risk factors is insufficient.

"Warning Signs" - Clues to suicidal behaviour

People with suicidal intent often let others know about their thoughts in various ways. Their communications can be behavioural, verbal or non-verbal. Certain "warning signs" pointing to suicide risk have been put together below:

Unhappy Circumstances:

Suicidal risk is greater when an individual is facing unhappy situations such as:

§ Recent loss or break-up of a close relationship (death, divorce, separation, quarrels)

§ Disappointments in career or financial status (sudden illness, loss of job, failures, debts)

§ Perception of being threatened (legal actions, physical attacks)

§ Sudden / painful / prolonged / disabling illness (mental or physical)

§ Dependency on alcohol or other drugs.

§ History of earlier suicidal behaviour.

§ History of suicide in family.

Visual / Behavioural Clues:

§ Changes in personality: sad, withdrawn, irritable, anxious, tired, indecisive, apathetic.

§ Changes in behaviour: Loss of concentration in everyday work, less energetic, exhausted.

§ Changes in sleep pattern: Fatigue, insomnia, frequent nightmares

§ Changes in eating habits: Loss of appetite or overeating

§ Sudden loss of interest in friends, sex, hobbies or activities previously enjoyed

§ Anxiety about money, health or dependant relatives.

§ Appearing to be losing control over life, going crazy, harming self or others

§ Different from normal ways - easily given to tears or unusually cheerful.

§ Undue haste in tidying up pending affairs (making a will, taking out insurance, clearing debts)

V Verbal clues :

§ Expressing feelings of loneliness and isolation.

§ Describing life or self as worthless, a failure.

§ Unable to perceive hope in life - no aspirations about future.

§ Expressions of guilt, shame and loss of self-esteem.

§ Frequent references to futility of life, death or suicide.

The Right Approach

towards a suicidal person

Worried about someone?

If someone you know might be feeling suicidal, please know that suicidal individuals might be comforted if the mental pain being experienced by them is lessened. Willingness to listen to what the person has to say - with understanding and acceptance, without being intrusive, judgmental or critical - can make the person feel better.