Everyone prefers not to talk about it. We hope that it will never happen to us. However suicide is a reality happening more often than we think in our milieu. By paying attention to the warning signs and talking about the “unbelievable”, we might have the possibility to prevent a death.
Suicide is the “action in which a human takes his/her own life” because of feeling hopeless, helpless, desperate, trapped in personal, family and other problems which he/she feels that he/she cannot face. Suicide expresses the desire to get away from a life that is unbearable.
According to the World Health Organisation, the last 45 years suicides increased globally by 60% and only 25% of all people attempting to commit suicide seek help after the attempt.
In Greece, according to data from the National Statistical Office, there were 394 deaths from suicides in 2006. Due to the stigma, the number of recorded suicides is smaller than the real one. Because of the economic crisis, the number of suicides increased by 15%. In 2010, the number of deaths from suicides in our country is calculated at 500, while in 2011 it increased by 26%.
The cost of suicide is immense. Except from the loss of human lives, there are important psychological repercussions for family and friends, causing feelings of shame and guilt. Each suicide has direct impact on at least 6 people (friends or relatives). If it takes place in a public space, dozens or hundreds of people are affected.
Suicide is a complex multifactorial phenomenon. We often hear that someone committed suicide because he/she couldn’t cope with unemployment, debts or because he/she had emotional or other problems or even for retaliation or to get away from emotional suffering or void. Suicide comes as the result of difficulties in solving problems and not accomplishing goals set by the person in his/her life. Psychoanalysts put the blame on the person’s anger turning against himself/herself. Beck’s cognitive-behavioural theory claims that negative schemas are the causes of low self-esteem.
However, even though most people face problems and difficulties in their lives, the majority don’t go as far as suicide. What matters is the ability of each person to cope with them. Our vulnerability is shaped according to our mental condition, our personality, our personal experiences and the society we live in.
Causes increasing the risk are socio-demographic factors (sex, age, family status, work, economic difficulties, social exclusion), the existence of a mental disorder, stressful life events, interpersonal relationship problems, lack of a supportive environment, grief, alcohol or drug abuse and existence of a chronic physical condition.
In order to prevent a suicide it is important to understand its multifactorial aetiology since prevention requires innovative interventions with multisectoral approach.
Counselling and cognitive-behavioural therapy emphasise the possibility of cognitive processing, communication skills, interpersonal exchange, problem solving and low self-esteem. Provision of social support is necessary through economic and information support. The operation of social support is exercised through social supportive systems, which operate as a direct source of support for the person and as a base for networking with other resources and help sources.