TAKING THE PLUNGE

When Kollywood actress Maya tried to commit suicide in a dramatic protest of the imprisonment of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, many laughed it away as a desperate attention-seeking act. It was not the first time that someone was trying to immolate herself as a political protest. At the same time, the incident belittled a problem that has taken on the size of an epidemic in India – suicide.

Two days after Maya’s theatrics, a college student in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, took his own life. The reason for the fatal step is still being investigated but that the last call he made before hanging himself was to his girlfriend, might give a clue. In late September, an unnamed jobless engineer jumped to his death in Goa and around the same time, model-turned actress Archana Pandey’s body was discovered by neighbours in her house in a Mumbai suburbs after she allegedly committed suicide.

“The mounting incidence of suicide has become a public health issue of global importance,” Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan said during a suicide awareness-raising programme in Kerala in late September. “The government will adopt a strategy on suicide prevention, which will stress on counselling and wider spread of treatment centres for depression,” the minister added. He pointed to the recent World Health Organization (WHO) report that said India reported the highest number of suicides in the world in 2012. According to the report, India is the world’s “suicide capital” and accounted for 2.6 lakh suicides, nearly a third of the global total of 8 lakh.

The country has twice as many of these cases as second-placed China, which reported 1.2 lakh suicides in 2012. It is of little consolation that India is ranked 11th in suicide rates.

Moreover, even though there is a decline in Indians’ propensity (rate declined by 9.2 per cent in 12 years) to take their own lives, the Chinese have fared better with a drop of 59 per cent. In recent years the most highlighted instances of these unnatural deaths are those associated with farmers, especially those growing cotton.

While this is a serious problem, studies have shown that suicides among the unemployed and those in professions other than agriculture were three times higher. Equally, or more worrying (given India’s changing demographics) might be the increasing rate at which youngsters in India are taking the extreme step (35.5 per cent of suicides in India are committed by those in the 15-29 age group).

Taking cognisance of the seriousness of the problem, the Health Ministry under Vardhan is now framing India’s first mental health policy, which will focus on patients’ rights. That is important because, as the Health Ministry says, there are up to 30 million people in India who need mental health care. The policy was released on October 10.

At the same time, Vardhan should also use the opportunity to address the moot question – Why are Indians prone to suicidal tendencies?

There is no clear single answer. The WHO study lists risk factors that lead to suicides and brackets them in three categories - risks related to the health system and society, which include poor access to medical infrastructure; risks at the community level such as discrimination and stress of acculturation; and individual risks such as financial loss and alcoholism.

Each factor is relevant to India, where these risks are compounded by transitions happening at several levels – family (from joint to nuclear), work (from traditional to corporate) and regional (rural to urban) to name a few.

Perhaps a study of Indian genetics might also provide a clue. In 2011, a study by the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found out a specific gene is linked to suicidal behaviour.

The scientists at the Centre confirmed that people diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and having the methionine (“met”) variation of the gene called BDNF, had a higher chance of suicidal behaviour.

News reports quoted a Director at the Centre saying that it may be possible to develop a compound that gives the low-functioning BDNF gene, which has a role in the development of the nervous system, a boost. When developed, the compound might well help limit suicides in India.