New Delhi: Why do people commit suicide? A recent survey confirms what many already know.
If it’s love and money that make the world go round, it’s failure in love and financial problems that are the major of suicides, among the Delhiites that is.
The study conducted by doctors of Capital’s Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and AIIMS analysed suicide notes of 40 men and women in Delhi over a period of five years and was publishes in US-based International Journal of Psychiatry last year.
The study found that while women tended to turn suicidal due to their love lives going kaput, men were more prone to suicide after incurring financial loses.
Interestingly, most of those who committed suicide were married, as compared to West where most suicide-prone were either single, separated or divorced.
"The study is first of its kind in the country. Analysis of suicide notes help in confirming cause of death as suicide and also help in suicide prevention programmes," Head of the Psychiatry Department at GTB Hospital, M S Bhatia, was quoted as saying by PTI.
Bhatia conducted the study along with Additional Professor in AIIMS Forensic Medicine Department O P Murthy and Professor in the Forensic Medicine Department in GTB Hospital S K Verma. He said majority of suicides occurred by hanging at home and by men and most people committing suicides were in the age group of 21 to 30 years of age, followed by those in the age group of 11 to 20 years.
"Psychological autopsy is supplementary to medical autopsy in finding out the correct cause of death. Suicide note forms an important component of psychological autopsy. We have found that 15 per cent to 43 per cent of those who commit suicide leave behind suicide notes," Bhatia was quoted as saying.
From the study of the suicide notes, experts found that most of them had written it themselves and had addressed it to their siblings, followed by police and then spouse. "In 30 per cent of the cases they had mentioned their last wish," Bhatia said.
Out of the 40 people who committed suicide, 26 were men. "Eighty per cent committed suicide by hanging, followed by poisoning. Death by jumping from a height and using a firearm were the other ways people ended their lives," Bhatia said.
In India, the reported annual incidents of suicide is 53 per million to 430 per million."Genuineness, authenticity and analysis are important components of suicide notes. It has been estimated that up to 80 per cent patients may communicate intent before the act.
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