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Covid-19 and increasing suicidal tendency among youth

We should spread positivity on social media platforms and try to avoid posting contents that can negatively influence vulnerabl


Bangladeshpost
Published : 26 Sep 2020 10:07 PM | Updated : 27 Sep 2020 12:42 AM

Pratyasha Bhattacharjee

Suicide, this simple word is not as simple as it sounds. This seven-letter word actually denotes an increasing global problem, without any exception in Bangladesh. While suicide or self-killing is described as a heinous crime in almost all religions, religious education does not seem to be successful enough to lower the suicide rate among youths. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), globally around 800,000 people commit suicide every year. Moreover, this pandemic situation and prolonged closure of educational institutions have made our youths more vulnerable to suicide.

As psychological problems are not encouraged to be talked about in Bangladesh, suicide is also a much less talked subject here. But the recent rise in the suicidal tendency of youths of the country exposes the need for addressing the issue in no time.

In the last few months, several suicidal cases were reported and most of them were young people. A study finds that some eight suicide-related cases occurred in the country during the first 3 weeks of April 2020. In August 2020, a student of Dhaka University, a 26 years old model living in Dhaka, and a college-going student in Chattogram killed themselves because of either family problems or depression.

According to the psychiatrists, more than 11,000 people kill themselves every year in the country. On average 172 suicidal cases are reported in each district per year. And the rate has surely increased in this pandemic as youths are now compelled to spend more time at home because of the shutdown of educational institutions. 

Research shows that psychological problems such as sadness, worry, fear, anger, depression, guilt, helplessness, loneliness can usually trigger the tendency of suicide among youth. Young people are more likely to experience intimate relationships and failure of which can influence them to take extreme steps. In Bangladesh, young people have to face pressure of high expectations from their parents, family, friends, and relative which they often cannot cope with. This creates a feeling of helplessness among them and makes them feel lonely.

While COVID-19 has been proved to be a global crisis and brought about changes in almost every sphere including our economic and social life, it has affected the psychology of the people worldwide. According to psychologists, this kind of situation imposes negative impact on people’s psychology and makes them more vulnerable. It is estimated that 1.5 million people will die due to suicide by the year 2020.

Young people have been staying at home for a longer period of time and it is affecting their mental health. Even in normal times, mental health is a much less talked subject in Bangladesh. Here, people who have mental health problems are tagged as lunatic and psychic. 

Because of the restricted and conservative family pattern being predominant in Bangladesh, people, especially young people hardly talk to their family about their life problems. They, in most cases cannot even think of telling their parents about their suffering from stress, depression, or other mental problems as they think parents are not going to take their problem seriously. This forces them to hide their problems, and suffer alone. Moreover, resources for entertainment at home are not enough, which causes them to spend more time in social media platforms. Parents should listen to their child’s problem carefully no matter whether it is personal or not.  It is high time parents understood the fact that only providing their children with all the basic needs is not enough. It is important to take care of their mental health regularly.

Recently, on the internet and social media platforms, several posters and designs encouraging depression and suicide can be noticed. While many people share this as a mere expression of their sadness in social media, this can affect, and even trigger emotionally vulnerable people, especially teenagers. Several cases were noticed in recent times, where victims posted suicidal status and pictured before self-killing.

Sympathising suicide is another reason for the recent increase in suicidal tendencies. On social media, suicide is not often seen as a mistake or sin anymore. Rather, after a suicidal case goes viral, people share it through social media and sympathise with it. Recently, a student of Dhaka University killed himself as a consequence of failure in his love life. Within a few moments after this news spread, people started harassing the girl on Facebook. A college girl from Chattogram, who also shared this post writing that she is facing the same situation, committed suicide within a month. The previous case may not be the only reason for her suicide, but this sympathising attitude might encourage her to do it.

In this age of technological advancement, everyone is connected and the world is a small place. If one does not shares about his or her problems with the family members and do not seek the help of professionals, he or she will probably seek help through other channels, which could guide them in the wrong way. As social media users, we should spread positivity on social media platforms and try to avoid posting contents that can negatively influence vulnerable people around us. Last but not least, if we do not talk about mental  health of our youth, suicidal  tendency among them will continue to rise indeed.


Pratyasha Bhattacharjee is a student at Department of  Public Administration,  University of Chittagong.