Modern lifestyles, family break-ups leading to depression and suicides
What you need to know:
- World Health Organisation estimates indicate that suicide is common in both rich and poor countries.
- Author Andrew Solomon, who dissects depression and suicide in his book, The Noonday Demon, and who has suffered from depression for several years, says that suicide is sometimes prompted by a sudden painful external event, such as the loss of a loved one.
The death of actor Robin Williams is a stark reminder that neither wealth nor fame is sufficient to deter people from killing themselves. Williams’s suicide has also highlighted the issue of depression, not just among famous people, but also among ordinary folk.
World Health Organisation estimates indicate that suicide is common in both rich and poor countries. Every year, some 800,000 people around the world kill themselves. Greenland had the highest suicide rate in 2011 (83 suicides per 100,000 people), followed by Lithuania, South Korea, Guyana and Kazakhstan.
Caribbean countries such as Haiti tend to have fewer suicides, while Asian and northern and eastern European countries tend to have higher rates. In 1995, more young people died of suicide in the US than of cancer, stroke, pneumonia and heart disease combined.
Statistics on Kenya are hard to come by, but evidence suggests that suicides are on the rise, particularly among youth. Globally, suicide is among the top three causes of death among youth aged between 15 and 44. Generally, suicide rates among males are higher than among females.
Researchers say that rising suicide rates and cases of depression, particularly among youth, could be attributed to a variety of factors, including the breakdown of the traditional family, and the resulting loneliness and alienation aggravated by modern lifestyles and technological advances that have reduced the need for personal social contact.
However, not all people who are severely depressed commit or contemplate suicide; nor are those who commit suicide depressed.
RATIONAL REASONS
Author Andrew Solomon, who dissects depression and suicide in his book, The Noonday Demon, and who has suffered from depression for several years, says that suicide is sometimes prompted by a sudden painful external event, such as the loss of a loved one. Other people kill themselves because of what they believe are totally “rational” reasons, such as when a terminal or debilitating illness strikes and when the prospect of living is more daunting than that of dying.
Some people are more prone to suicide than others. Personality, genetics, childhood experiences and substance abuse seem to play a role in determining who will kill him or herself and who will not. A link between alcoholism and suicide has also been made.
Highly successful and talented people also seem prone to suicide, says Solomon, because they tend to set very high standards for themselves and are often disappointed even in their greatest achievements.
Excessive self-examination among artists and other creative people may lead to suicide. Writers and poets are particularly vulnerable, as are highly successful businessmen, scientists and composers.
In Kenya, not much attention is paid to suicide and depression, partly because of the stigma attached to them, and also because both are considered afflictions of the rich. In a country where people are dying from preventable diseases such as malaria and Aids, it may seem specious to focus on mental illnesses.
However, in a country where there are very few psychologists and psychiatrists and limited options for affordable counselling, it is possible that we are looking at a public health crisis that we are not even aware of.
The rising incidence of people taking their own lives and the lives of their family members may be an indicator that the mental health of the nation is in a precarious state.
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The police killing of the African-American teenager Michael Brown, and the subsequent anti-racism riots in the United States, has brought home the fact that racism there has not been suppressed even under a black President.
However, what do you call the racism of blacks against fellow blacks? At the Coast, I have often witnessed Kenyan women married to white men adopting the worst racist attitudes towards fellow Kenyans.
Women who grew up in poverty look down on their poverty-stricken brethren and often treat them with contempt. It is a case of the oppressed adopting the attitudes of the oppressor, which ultimately is a victory for the oppressor. Franz Fanon’s Black Skins, White Masks should be required reading in our schools.
