Early this year, a 24-year-old student of the University of Education, Winneba, Solomon Obeng, committed suicide.
His reasons, gathered from a note he left behind, were that he had failed his exams. Apparently, Obeng could not withstand the shame he might have suffered from his colleagues upon the news of his failure.
A 30-year-old journalist, Albert Nana Asante, was also alleged to have committed suicide by drinking a poisonous substance suspected to be DDT.
The cases of Obeng and Nana Asante are not isolated suicide cases.
Obviously, for one to take his or her own life, one must be going through stress, depression, hurt, sadness, loneliness, shame, disgrace, trauma or some other struggle.
Many people, to escape, turn to swallow poison, hang themselves, shoot themselves, or jump off a storey-building.
Much is not said about it, but suicide in the country has risen in the past few years, prompting concern that more people are vulnerable.
According to a 2012 survey conducted by the Network for Anti-suicide and Crisis Prevention in Ghana, five or more people commit suicide every day in the country.
The report indicted that the common method used in the southern sector was hanging and poisoning, while in the northern sector, it was by fire arms and also hanging.
It also said the highest number of cases recorded was between the ages of 20 to 35, with a total of 702 and with the reasons being relationship problems, poverty among others.
The ages between nine and 19 recorded 531 deaths. The dominant cause of their death ranged from problems with parents, failure at school, inability of parents to provide needs, impotence and relationship related issues. The statistics further revealed that within the year, more men committed suicide than women with 1,129 men as against 427 women.
According to news reports, the Eastern Region recorded an increase in suicide cases from 14 in 2012 to 26 cases in 2013.
“There are three organisational stages of suicide, involving “getting used to,” the idea, the means and the opportunity or motivation,” he added.
He described the first stage as the preparation state where a person prepares to commit suicide. People who are naturally secretive, who come from broken homes, people with no loving childhood and people with traumatic stress disorders are susceptible.
The second, he said were the precipitate factors that triggered one to commit suicide. Some of the triggers were financial crisis, loss of a loved one and separation.
The final stage was when victims remained in a perpetual state of the desire to kill him or herself, and with the triggers including the lack of financial support, among others.
“Many people think of suicide every day due to reasons such as failure of academic examinations, teasing, economic hardship, relationship break-ups, among numerous other reasons,” he said.
“Suicides and attempted suicides are big problems, but we pretend they do not exist, we stand and watch wealthy productive members of the society perish in complete avoidable situations,” he lamented.
He explained that about 93 to 95 per cent of every 100 cases of suicides and attempted suicides were caused by mental disorders with risk factors such as depressions, substance use, and excessive alcohol use, as well as post-trauma stress disorder.
He attributed the rise in suicide cases to depression, which accounted for about 80 per cent of suicide cases and post-trauma stress disorders, which were the long term effects of rape, defilement, losing capital and victims of armed robbery.
A Clinical Psychologist, Dr Angela Ofori Attah, also explained “In times of economic hardship, people lose their job, source of pleasure, loved ones, among others leaving them distressed. They feel hopeless about the situation and feel negative about everything in their life, thinking that everything about them is bad”.
Without getting the needed affection and emotional support after long-term effect of terrifying events such as rape, defilement and accident, Dr Ofori-Attah said people were also led to commit suicides.
Dr Ofori-Attah, who is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School, said teenage suicides were due to factors such as teasing, bullying physically or on social media, which may also be harassment.
Dr Ofori Attah added that suicide should be decriminalised, so that people with the intention to commit the act could seek help.
Therefore, the WHO has made suicide prevention, along with public prevention of malaria and tobacco related diseases, the top priorities for the first decade of this millennium.
It was, therefore, necessary for the Government of Ghana to strengthen its institutions and put in place more measures to improve mental healthcare service in the country, Dr Osei said.
He urged authorities to conduct research on suicide so that they could know how to deal with the risk factors.
For her part, Dr Ofori- Attah said the University of Ghana, Ghana Health Service and the National Service Secretariat were working together for psychology and undergraduates of clinical, social and counselling psychology students to go into the communities to work with psychiatric nurses and educate the public on mental health issues for their national service.
She encouraged the Ghana Education Service to strengthen its guidance and counselling unit in the schools, and for teachers to become sensitised and aware of any depressed students.
A 30-year-old journalist, Albert Nana Asante, was also alleged to have committed suicide by drinking a poisonous substance suspected to be DDT.
The cases of Obeng and Nana Asante are not isolated suicide cases.
Obviously, for one to take his or her own life, one must be going through stress, depression, hurt, sadness, loneliness, shame, disgrace, trauma or some other struggle.
Many people, to escape, turn to swallow poison, hang themselves, shoot themselves, or jump off a storey-building.
Much is not said about it, but suicide in the country has risen in the past few years, prompting concern that more people are vulnerable.
According to a 2012 survey conducted by the Network for Anti-suicide and Crisis Prevention in Ghana, five or more people commit suicide every day in the country.
The report indicted that the common method used in the southern sector was hanging and poisoning, while in the northern sector, it was by fire arms and also hanging.
It also said the highest number of cases recorded was between the ages of 20 to 35, with a total of 702 and with the reasons being relationship problems, poverty among others.
The ages between nine and 19 recorded 531 deaths. The dominant cause of their death ranged from problems with parents, failure at school, inability of parents to provide needs, impotence and relationship related issues. The statistics further revealed that within the year, more men committed suicide than women with 1,129 men as against 427 women.
According to news reports, the Eastern Region recorded an increase in suicide cases from 14 in 2012 to 26 cases in 2013.
The structure of suicide
According to the Chief Psychiatrist of the Accra Mental Hospital, Dr Akwesi Osei, suicide was premeditated. It is not something one does the first time he or she thinks about it.“There are three organisational stages of suicide, involving “getting used to,” the idea, the means and the opportunity or motivation,” he added.
He described the first stage as the preparation state where a person prepares to commit suicide. People who are naturally secretive, who come from broken homes, people with no loving childhood and people with traumatic stress disorders are susceptible.
The second, he said were the precipitate factors that triggered one to commit suicide. Some of the triggers were financial crisis, loss of a loved one and separation.
The final stage was when victims remained in a perpetual state of the desire to kill him or herself, and with the triggers including the lack of financial support, among others.
Risk factors
According to Dr Osei, for every case of suicide reported, five people have already contemplated committing suicide, making a total of about 200,000 people contemplating the idea yearly.“Many people think of suicide every day due to reasons such as failure of academic examinations, teasing, economic hardship, relationship break-ups, among numerous other reasons,” he said.
“Suicides and attempted suicides are big problems, but we pretend they do not exist, we stand and watch wealthy productive members of the society perish in complete avoidable situations,” he lamented.
He explained that about 93 to 95 per cent of every 100 cases of suicides and attempted suicides were caused by mental disorders with risk factors such as depressions, substance use, and excessive alcohol use, as well as post-trauma stress disorder.
He attributed the rise in suicide cases to depression, which accounted for about 80 per cent of suicide cases and post-trauma stress disorders, which were the long term effects of rape, defilement, losing capital and victims of armed robbery.
A Clinical Psychologist, Dr Angela Ofori Attah, also explained “In times of economic hardship, people lose their job, source of pleasure, loved ones, among others leaving them distressed. They feel hopeless about the situation and feel negative about everything in their life, thinking that everything about them is bad”.
Without getting the needed affection and emotional support after long-term effect of terrifying events such as rape, defilement and accident, Dr Ofori-Attah said people were also led to commit suicides.
Dr Ofori-Attah, who is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School, said teenage suicides were due to factors such as teasing, bullying physically or on social media, which may also be harassment.
Dr Ofori Attah added that suicide should be decriminalised, so that people with the intention to commit the act could seek help.
Recommendations
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that by the year 2020, 1.5 million people worldwide will be killing themselves annually.Therefore, the WHO has made suicide prevention, along with public prevention of malaria and tobacco related diseases, the top priorities for the first decade of this millennium.
It was, therefore, necessary for the Government of Ghana to strengthen its institutions and put in place more measures to improve mental healthcare service in the country, Dr Osei said.
He urged authorities to conduct research on suicide so that they could know how to deal with the risk factors.
For her part, Dr Ofori- Attah said the University of Ghana, Ghana Health Service and the National Service Secretariat were working together for psychology and undergraduates of clinical, social and counselling psychology students to go into the communities to work with psychiatric nurses and educate the public on mental health issues for their national service.
She encouraged the Ghana Education Service to strengthen its guidance and counselling unit in the schools, and for teachers to become sensitised and aware of any depressed students.
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