When was in my early 20s I saw the dead body of a close relative hanging from the ceiling fan.It was a suicide.That image does not go out of my head.Its like a movie playing in my mind. I can fully empathise with the family of the victim.The trauma that the family goes through is really tremendous.Everyone feels gulity. I know I did and blamed myself for not seeing the symptoms.
Recently we have been reading about suicides everyday. Young kids, Housewives and also Senior citizens.
I been trying in my own capacity to make pple discuss about suicide, about depression and about why pple take the extreme step.But Ive found that pple love to play the blame game.Generally pple are angry at the victim coz he/she brought SHAME to the family.
They hate to talk about it because they are afraid of the spirit of the deceased.
These ideas are so deeply ingrained in their minds that it becomes difficult to break the myths that they so religiously believe in.
What can Aasra volunteers do to initiate dialogue and make pple start talking about this grave problem? this problem of indifference?