Hope comes in the form of a hotline

(Contributed)

(Conclusion)

Somewhere in the world, more than 800,000 people take their life every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported. This means a life is lost every 40 seconds due to suicide and that for every completed suicide, there are many more who attempt to do it.

For women, the rate of suicide is eight per 100,000. For men, it’s 15 per 100,000. Although more men die by suicide, more women attempt to end their life.

In a 2014 study by WHO, suicide was found to be the second leading cause of death among 15–29 year-old around the world. Despite its global reach, 75 percent of suicide was found to occur in low and middle-income countries.

Guyana, a largely rural country in South America and home to about 740,000 people has the highest suicide rate in the world at 44.2, four times higher than the global average of 11.4 per 100,000 population.

Deep rural poverty, alcohol abuse and easy access to deadly pesticides seem to be the comination leading to the self-inflicted deaths of more than 44 out of 100,000 Guyanese, according to WHO.

Other countries which ranked highest in the WHO report are: North Korea (38.5), South Korea (28.9), Sri Lanka (28.8) and Lithuania (28.2). Japan, which has been struggling with a high suicide rate for a long time was ranked No. 18, although suicide is the leading cause of death in Japanese men ages 20-44, with unemployment, depression and social pressure as the key contributing factors.

The most common methods of suicide worldwide are ingestion of pesticides, hanging and the use of firearms.

The estimated number of suicides in the Philippines in 2012 was 2,558, according to the same report. However, it is believed the suicide cases were underreported because in countries like the Philippines, mental health is rarely discussed.

Local suicide data

In Cebu, relationship problems ranked highest among the reasons why people commit suicide, revealed a Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) suicide registry compiled from August 2011 to August 2015. This was followed by family conflicts, marital conflicts , depression and hallucinations and lastly, financial problems.

Of the 398 suicide victims in the VSMMC registry, 256 (64.32 percent) were males while 142 (35.68 percent) were females. The age distribution of the suicide cases recorded saw most victims falling within the 21-30 age bracket.

Among teens, the usual reasons for committing suicide stem from gender problems and issues, explained VSMMC resident psychologist Conchita Olasiman.

Children, despite their young age, are not immune from suicidal tendencies especially when they are caught in a situation where they might feel like there is no way out of the pain they are experiencing.

Olasiman said that the youngest suicide patient she came across with was a 7-year-old boy who tried to hang himself after a conflict with his father.

As for civil status, the VSMMC registry indicates that 63.38 percent of the victims were single; 34.73 percent were married; and 1.91 percent were widowed.

The most common suicide method recorded by VSMMC was the ingestion of poison.

Olasiman and Dr.Renato Obra, chief of the Center for Behavioral Sciences at VSMMC, both noted that although there were exemptions, many of the recorded suicide attempts by females were done not to actually end their lives but as a dramatic call for help or to get the attention they desperately needed at the time.

This results to higher incidents of attempted suicides among females and higher incidents of completed suicides among males, Olasiman said.

The Department of Psychiatry of VSMMC also receives an average of around 30 patient referrals from other departments in a month. The referrals consisted of patients who were admitted to the hospital for reasons other than mental issues, such as injuries or the ingestion of lethal substances, but were later on found to be the result of suicidal tendencies.

There is hope

Hopeline Cebu, a 24/7 emotional crisis support hotline, on the other hand recorded that 72 percent of their callers were female.

Majority of the calls were inquiries about the services provided by the crisis center followed by calls from those experiencing relationship problems and anxiety attacks. Most callers were between 21 to 30 years old.

Since the start of their operations in August 2015, the hotline has received around 1,500 calls. For the first half of the month of March alone, the hotline received 521 calls.

Many callers were calling for someone else undergoing a suicidal crisis.

Obra explained that despite the data, there is difficulty in coming up with accurate statistics for Cebu. However, it can be safely assumed that the rise in cases has become alarming.

With Cebu considered as the place with the highest number of suicide incidents in the country, Hopeline Cebu has intensified their awareness campaign to inform the public that there is now a 24/7 emotional crisis support hotline that will listen, assess, and refer callers to professionals for those experiencing mental and emotional issues such as depression and suicidal thoughts.

The hotline, funded by the Department of Health (DOH) and VSMMC, can be reached by calling 2919 or 09178358961.

All calls to Hopeline are strictly confidential, with trained responders conducting risk assessments to determine if the caller is low risk (those who just want to vent out their feelings with no suicidal intention), moderate risk ( who have started to entertain suicidal thoughts), or high risk (those who have attempted suicide or had committed pre-suicidal actions).

Nicole, a team leader of Hopeline, said that even if it is a Cebu hotline, they were getting calls from as far as Manila, USA, Canada, Japan and Hongkong.

The overseas calls were from Filipinos working abroad who experienced depression or loneliness after being away from their families.

“There is no assurance that after the call, the caller will not anymore entertain suicidal thoughts,” Obra said. “The only thing we can do is to listen to them and boost their morale. With this kind of intervention, at least they have somebody to lean on; at least they can share their problems with professionals who have been trained how to respond to them.”

Family support matters
As a way to prevent suicide, Obra pointed to the importance of a strong moral and family support system, regular exercise, proper diet and medication.

He also urged parents to spend more time with their children and to talk to them often while monitoring their activities. Parents have to seek professional help when alarming changes in their child’s usual demeanor are noticed, said Obra.

Other than the hotline, Obra said people facing emotional or mental crisis can also seek help from persons in authority such as school guidance counselors, teachers or their pastors or priests.

For professional help, Obra said anyone could go to any mental health office and facility in order to meet with a psychologist.

“If at the onset, the changes in their usual demeanor is alarming, it must be addressed as soon as possible. Otherwise, if you only seek professional help when the situation is already at its worst, it will be a long battle to fight it,” Obra said partly in Cebuano.

As a way to prevent suicide, Obra pointed to the importance of a strong moral and family support system, regular exercise, proper diet and medication.

He also urged parents to spend more time with their children and to talk to them often while monitoring their activities. Parents have to seek professional help when alarming changes in their child’s usual demeanor are noticed, said Obra.

Other than the hotline, Obra said people facing emotional or mental crisis can also seek help from persons in authority such as school guidance counselors, teachers or their pastors or priests.

For professional help, Obra said anyone could go to any mental health office and facility in order to meet with a psychologist.

“If at the onset, the changes in their usual demeanor is alarming, it must be addressed as soon as possible. Otherwise, if you only seek professional help when the situation is already at its worst, it will be a long battle to fight it,” Obra said partly in Cebuano.