Suicide: An exacerbating conundrum In Balochistan

Self-destruction is not a distinctive or an inconsequential conundrum rather is one of the leading causes of death worldwide among people aged 15 to 44, but heretofore world seems to fall flat to track down the very reason to thwart it.

Similarly, In Balochistan, self-injuring attempts are significantly aggravating these days due to their negligence. As per the report of The Balochistan Post (TBP), approximately 42 cases of suicide were reported in previous year.

On the other hand, Paank, a non-profit organization report demonstrates, almost 52 people committed suicide this year; and the number of cases jotted down____ was around 80 in 2021.

The reason for suicide varies with each victim who commits suicide because either he/ she doesn’t leave any notes or his/her left missives couldn’t provide sufficient information nor the very cause of suicide is cogent; various studies associate it with many determinants: Psychosocial stressors, socio-economic factors, mental disorders, antisocial personality, previous attempts, Blackmailing, personality disorders, family process, availability of means of attempting Suicide, and built artificialities in society or relationship.

In majority instances, a school teacher of Awaran, Najma’s case is heart-wrenching who was blackmailed and compelled by a levies constable and other two to embrace death, but as usual in Balochistan, perpetrators roaming around without the fear of apprehension or accountability aftermath of commiting such heinous deed. Thus, the offender of this case has received full impunity and support from establishment to wander as reward.

As per the TBP’s recent report, 29 people have committed complete suicide which end in death utilizing various methods___ among them, twelve people have hanged themselves with cords, two have used acid, four have shot themselves, and ten of them used methods are unbeknownst. From aforementioned cases, eighteen are men and eleven are girls aged 13 to 28 respectively.

Although an attempt of self-injuring might end up with the deceased person,but it leaves behind a profound scarce in the hearts of the family and society. Thus, it is said, you aren’t only responsible for your actions___ but you are also answerable for what others do.

Assessing Particular Types of Suicide in Balochistan

Suicide is defined as a self-inflicted injury or an attempt to take one’s life through poisoning, suffocation, or gunshot albeit it isn’t explicit whether he/she strives to inflict such lethal injuries by herself or himself respectively.

From the aforementioned definition or case, it’s explicit that heretofore, it isn’t clear whether certain types of death suicide should be called suicide or not.

Suicide is of distinctive types: Complete Suicides which end in death, Suicide Attempts, suicides that either end or don’t end in death, and Suicide Ideation or thought is a type of self-injuring thought that people with mental disorders experience by ruminating about committing suicide.

As results of the conducted survey demonstrates, In Balochistan, sixteen per cent of people have heard of the aforementioned types of suicides, thirty-three per cent of people don’t have ideal about suicide____aged 13 to 18. Fifty per cent of people in Balochistan are suffering from suicide ideation, thought and have heard about complete suicide.

Similarly, many people in Balochistan are also suffering from mood disorders which lead people to suicide attempts___are: Bipolar, Unipolar, etc. People with Bipolar disorder or manic depression seem enthusiastic about everything, but they crash into depression abruptly and lose interest in everything. This symptom is termed as “Anhedonia”. On the other hand, people with Unipolar depression experience just depression not mania.

The very reason behind the depression is ___circumstances of Balochistan which are deteriorating with passage of time.

Also, the suicide attempts and depression are associated with social, economic, home environment, and work environment determinants in Balochistan. Unemployment is one of the leading determinants in suicide attempts in Balochistan due to unavailability of opportunities.

Suicide As a Contagious Ailment In Balochistan

When a series of suicides take place nonrandomly in a space or time, is called suicide cluster such as a series of female complete suicide in response to suicide of Najma in Awaran; scientists refer to it as Suicide Cluster.

Though suicide clusters seem to be most probable among people who are familiar with victim who committed suicide, but it isn’t essential they should be close friends or family members; this can occur through social media.

Certain theories have termed it “Suicide Contagion” because mostly survivors of suicide have modeled the behavior of either their friend or an eminent person.

Understanding Suicide and its Prevention in Balochistan

Albeit suicide seems far more common than we would anticipate, but it’s still infrequent to understand or study it scientifically. Depression is a common cue in all victims who have committed suicide that family members might remember in every case in the wake of suicide. Secondly, people who have committed suicide either left missive with ambiguous information or didn’t leave any note.

As Emile Durkheim, a sociologist discusses in his classic work about mind-sets and societal conditions that exacerbates risk for suicide, he mentions three types suicide: Egoistic Suicide, it is committed by people who are antisocial or feel alienated from others, Anomic Suicide is committed by people who lose their job or find major changes in their relationships to society, and Altruistic Suicide is committed by people who ruminate taking their lives would be advantageous to the society. For instance, Buddhist monks who burned themselves to death to protest the war during the Vietnam War were committing altruistic suicide.

The aforementioned types of suicides are taking place in Balochistan, but in distinctive ways. For instance, in Balochistan, people are using altruistic suicide for the self-determination and to thwart the ongoing extermination of Baloch.

To forestall perennially exacerbating suicide cases in Balochistan, we need to educate people about suicide and its factors. And people who are suffering from depression and have an extreme urge to end their lives need immediate care because for them their lives don’t have any purpose.