Suicide And The Role Of Family
The act of killing oneself or taking one’s own life has now moved out from the shadows of been a taboo topic to one been discussed openly with the hope of helping others that might be thinking of taking his/her life. The word “suicide” comes from two Latin roots, sui (“of oneself”) and cidium (“killing” or “slaying”). Whenever persons decide to commit suicide, this leaves other family members experiencing shock, anger, depression, sadness, despair and confusion. As relatives try to understand what has happened and try to pick up the pieces they are left feeling bewildered as they come to grips with this unspeakable act. It is more likely someone will die from suicide than from homicide. For every two persons killed by homicide, three persons die from committing suicide.
According to the Webster’s dictionary, Suicide is defined as “the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally.” Suicide was the tenth leading cause of death for all ages in 2013. Suicide rates in Jamaica have remained relatively stable for the past few years with mean overall annual incidence of 2. 1 per 100 000 population. Rates for males were significantly higher than those for females. The majority (90. 4%) of suicide cases were males. A trend for higher rates of suicide was generally noted in the 25-34-year and the 75-year and over age groups. Hanging was the main method used to commit suicide (77. 5%). There were 41, 149 suicides in 2013 in the United States — a rate of 12. 6 per 100, 000 is equal to 113 suicides each day or one every 13 minutes. Suicide is the seventh leading cause of death for males and the fourteenth leading cause for females. Males take their own lives at nearly four times the rate of females and represent 77. 9% of all suicides whilst firearms are the most commonly used method of suicide among males (56. 9%) and poisoning is the most common method of suicide for females (34. 8%). As it regards to Jamaica, at least one person dies by suicide every week, about twenty have attempted and many others have contemplated the idea. Jamaicans are slowly coming to the realization that suicide is a “big deal” and emphasis should be placed on suicide awareness campaign. In China, someone takes his or her own life on average every two minutes. China accounts for nearly a quarter of the global total of suicides with between 250, 000 and 300, 000 suicides a year and one in seven Canadians has seriously considered suicide, and more than 3, 500 Canadians kill themselves each year. Canada’s suicide rate (currently 12. 3 per 100, 000) is consistently higher than the United States’ rate (currently 11. 2).
Suicide affects the family socially, psychologically and physically and its effects are far reaching and most times will leave devastation in its wake. Each suicide intimately effects at least six other people (estimated). Suicide is preventable and most suicidal individuals desperately want to live; they are just unable to see alternatives to their problems. Most suicidal individuals give definite warnings of their suicidal intentions, but others are either unaware of the significance of these warnings or do not know how to respond to them. Suicide occurs across all age, economic, social, racial and ethnic boundaries. Experts believe that early exposure to child abuse may disrupt the proper development of communication pathways within the brain and, consequently, abuse victims are more likely than their peers to commit suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among persons aged 10-14, the second among persons aged 15-34 years, the fourth among persons aged 35-44 years, the fifth among persons aged 45-54 years, the eighth among person 55-64 years, and the seventeenth among persons 65 years and older. In 2011, middle-aged adults accounted for the largest proportion of suicides (56%), and from 1999-2010, the suicide rate among this group increased by nearly 30%.
Persons commit suicide for a variety of reasons such as mental illness, bullying, personality disorders, drug addiction/substance abuse, unemployment, eating disorders or a traumatic event. No matter the cause put forward the result remains the same “suicide”. According to the Jamaica Observer article on June 22, 2016 Jamaicans woke up to the shocking news of one Delmark Spence popularly called “Delus”, who is the older brother of dancehall artiste Konshens when he ended his life by way of a shotgun. This sent the music world and his close friends and family members especially his brother in a frenzy. Words could not convey the magnitude of the loss felt by his brother and Jamaicans were left watching his actions as Konshens came to terms with what his big brother had done. According to Ishifish, sociologist, Emile Durkheim postulates that there are four types of suicide. These are egoistic, altruistic, anomic, fatalistic. Each person that commits fall into one of these categories. Jamaicans don’t like to express themselves and they keep their innermost emotions within hence the reason Jamaica is now seeing a steady increase in incidence. Socially, family members will be left feeling distressed over the circumstances of the death, feeling like an outcast. Many cultures have prohibited a normal burial for people who committed suicide, although the restrictions varied per time and place. A common practice in England until 1823 was to bury a suicidal person at night in a crossroad with a stake driven through the heart. In France, the suicide’s body was dragged through the streets and then hanged from the public gallows. In Prussia, early laws required the victim to be buried under the gallows this brought great shame and disgrace to the grieving family.
Psychological effects can be subtler and if others are not cautious you will miss these warning signs. Relatives will be left feeling extreme guilt for not preventing the suicide; failure because the person they loved felt unloved; confusion and resentment towards the person who chose to take his or her life. Psychologically speaking, it is the norm for men not to talk about their problems, and find easier distractions avenues such as alcohol, drugs and sports to suppress their feelings then when the issue becomes too much to handle, suicide is often the highly-thought option. Men also feel compelled in taking their own lives due to the immense economic constrain placed on them. Jamaica suicide rate may not be large compared to others but it is still a concern in our culture, our teenagers are influenced from so many avenues other than the family and are easily led astray. Our young ones give in so easy to peer pressure that our culture of “get rich quick” and “handouts” does not help our situation because when these factors cannot be met in most persons mind they seek other avenues to avoid their problems hence our current situation in Jamaica. Fathers are unable to provide adequately for their families; mothers feeling unfulfilled being a housewife; adolescence not performing in school and each person thinks that he or she is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulder and this is the breaking point that may drive them to commit this act.
Physical factors always manifest themselves quite early and sometimes if not always attributed to other problems in society other than suicide. Children of suicide victims have frequent angry outburst; frequents fights among peers; starts to participate in illegal activities; others might be bullied at school; social interaction decreases and some become fixated about suicide to the point where they succumb also and commit the act. Society can be cruel and when our environment does not foster boys dealing with their emotions upfront because it makes them feminine where are heading down a dark path. Hebrew 11:1 states “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ” Men often seek “wise” counsel from friends instead of the Bible and this gives us great insight why men succumb to thoughts of suicide more than females.
In concluding, persons who are suicidal just want someone to listen to them, someone to trust and someone that will put an arm around them and show them that they care. They do not want to be told what to do nor do they wish to be interrogated. It is imperative that as a nation, though not known to have a necessarily high suicide rate, to ensure that the number of reports on suicide go down and this can only be done by looking out for one another and helping someone who seems to be struggling. As the saying goes ‘one suicide is too many’ and the statistics can only go down if everyone shares that sentiment. Men are the head of their household and when they commit this act they leave relatives in so much disarray and worry. Who then is left to nurture and guide the children? Who comforts the wife/ husband? Who answers the big question that is left on everyone.
