Suicides show upward trend

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: With development and modernisation come stress and competition, and a steadily growing number of Malaysians are feeling that they can’t cope with their lives.
The Health Ministry has forecast that in the next 10 to 15 years, suicide will emerge as the second highest cause of death here, after cardiovascular disease.
According to a recent estimate, 13 Malaysians in 100,000 have killed themselves, as opposed to eight in the 1980s.
But Prof Dr T. Maniam of the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said the figure was just an estimate and could actually be higher.
"We plan to set up a suicide registry for systematic collection of data. With a registry, we will be in a better position to provide accurate data. The suicide rate in Malaysia may be higher than we perceive," he said.
He added that the suicide rate in the Indian community is of concern. Compared with 15 Chinese and six Malays in every 100,000, it is estimated that 30 to 35 Indians in 100,000 commit or attempt suicide. There are no statistics for suicide rates in Sabah and Sarawak or among the Orang Asli.
Dr Maniam says suicide rates are normally higher during economic recession, as seen in Japan.
"Although there is no single reason for suicide, the common factors are mental disorders, depression, emotional stress, relationship problems, anxiety, poverty, physical abuse, alcoholism, drug abuse, unemployment, financial problems and love failure," he said.
A study by the Health Ministry last year showed that 13 per cent of Malaysian children had "some sort of psychiatric problem" but less than half were being treated. The Ma- laysian Psychiatric Association says that those in the 20 to 40 age group are most susceptible to depressive disorders.
In conjunction with the Fourth World Suicide Prevention Day today, themed "With Understanding, New Hope", International Association for Suicide Prevention president Professor Brian Mishara said: "In this age of global violence, terrorism and homicides, we ignore the fact that worldwide, more people kill themselves than die in all wars, terrorist acts and interpersonal violence combined.
"We have developed enough understanding of suicide to prevent a significant proportion of these deaths, to treat suicidal individuals and help families bereaved by suicide."
He said there was a need to translate knowledge about why people attempt to take their lives into effective strategies to prevent it.
Areas for suicide prevention include improving mental health treatment and management, educating physicians and the community, restricting access to lethal means of suicide, providing help in crisis situations, and improving media coverage of suicide.