Assam's Constant Worry: Rising Number of Suicide Cases in Guwahati, Ever Wondered Why The Surge?

But these all could have been better justified if we also had the equilibrium of the human instincts- viz- a- viz emotional feelings, kindness, tolerance, loyalty or honesty, love, truth etc.

If we have good thoughts in us, we see the world in the same way. But if we ourselves are not happy and do not see things in a positive way, the world itself will not look good to us. Then various chaos would arise in our daily lifestyle and will gradually feel quite troublesome. To lead a positive and stable life it is needed that we have a decent and happy approach to life.

But this happiness is often obstructed by disappointments and dis- satisfactions which in current times is witnessed by many suicidal attempts and cases. Obsessed with one's life, people are escaping an easy way by committing suicide. In Assam, 222 cases of suicides were reported from Guwahati in 2013. These cases of suicides since then had been gradually increasing. Many reasons could be cited for suicidal attempts.

One of the reasons for suicides in our Assam could be said to be the period of the Covid 19 pandemic. Amid the Covid era, many such issues led to suicidal causes for the people. It was a time during Covid when people were severely impacted mentally. But now, even after Covid has quite decreased and lockdowns removed, suicides are still rising at numbers.

This surge in numbers has made us think about the cause of suicide in Assam. One such case in Assam is the story of Sanglod Phengla, a student who had cleared his first year of HS and developed a desire to commit suicide for the first time.

His suicidal desire was much higher than the desire to go to the forest. It was reported that due to his family's mental constraints and unable to meet their son's requirements, he chose to commit the desire for suicide.

In one of the hospitals of Guwahati, inside a washroom, he chose to commit suicide to be his last option as his parents had to sell everything they had in their house in order to raise their son. It was reported that to meet their son's requirements, even the jewelries of the mother had to be sold. His parents sacrificed everything they had so that their son could be saved and they had to fight hard so that he could live a second chance. Just for the sake of his parents, so that his parent's sacrifice could be heard, he decided not to commit suicide and this stubborn attitude of him against the thought of suicide was taken back. This case was surrendered by the conqueror of death, Sanglod Phengla.

Many such conquerors of death are present in this world who have overcome the thoughts of suicide. But still, at the same time, cases of suicides have risen to such an extent that numbers if calculated would be difficult to grasp. Recently Guwahati's joint CP Partha Sarathi Mahanta also said that he was shocked to know after looking at the stats. But suicide is not an easy thing to simply understand. It has consequences and factors that lead to suicide.

Expressing concern over the rising number of suicides, Joint Commissioner of Police Partha Sarathi Mahanta informed media persons that there were 222 suicides in the city in 2013, 220 suicides in 2014, 241 in 2015, 227 in 2016, 289 in 2017, 287 in 2018, 254 in 2019, 277 in 2020 and 414 in 2021. However, the number of suicides so far this year in the city has already crossed 414, Mahanta disclosed.

According to a PhD holder and a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and associate director of adult ambulatory psychiatry at the Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West Hospitals, Anthony P. DeMaria, from New York City says that there are basically 3 reasons under which suicides can be categorized. They are-

• Biological factors- illness and physical as well as mental illnesses. And also sufferings from pain resulting from chronic diseases leads to suicide.
• Another factor is the psychological reason, for which suicides happen resulting from emotional imbalances, lack of mental support and engagement and the feeling of aloofness.
  
• The last category for which suicides happen is said to be because of external factors or as DeMaria calls it the "Social determinants of health". This includes a person's surroundings resulting from a person's financial health, the bonding of a person's relationship, their quality of relation, personal and private workspace issues like in a home and their professional work life. These factors are said to influence a suicide attempt the most.
  

Factors influencing suicide

• Depression and mental traumas.
• Illnesses.
• Hopelessness.
• Unable to cop up with a situation.
• Overload situations.
• Stressed life resulting from financial problems, relationships, academic and personal work pressures etc.,
• Isolation etc.

All these factors majorly contribute a suicide attempt where a person is unable to share his or her problems to the nearest person. Cases of sexual abuse also lead to suicide among most females. The mental trauma that a person goes through in each of this factors is quite notable for the person as he or she doesn't find any way out of it.

Conversations seem to be lacking behind where a person gets isolated and the thoughts of committing a suicide provokes. In a family where many cases of unforeseen situations had occurred and family members have also suffered leads to a tendency of attempting suicide for a person who had found him or her nowhere afterwards. This then leads to bad habits including intoxication and creates a messy situation for the entire family. This affect one or the other person in the family, who feels alone and alienated due to many family politics as well and thus unable to get mental health support within, commits suicide.

Life is actually easy to live if we try to live it easily. If we make it hard and understand things in a very complex way, things will get very difficult to understand. No, a surrender is not a good option for anyone who suffers from difficult phases in life. Yes, delivering a kind tone, lending a hand to share thoughts, love, emotions unconditionally and for all, will make narrow decision of suicide buzz off. All we need today in our time is, compassion, solidarities and a calm and composed temperament to feel and not just understand each one of us.