Student suicide statistics (India)

Student Suicide Statistics

Suicidal tendencies among students have gone up as they are burdened with greater expectations from the parents coupled with academic pressure. Statistics show that more and more students are taking the extreme step of suicide in a bid to end their misery after failing in their pursuit of professional excellence. The causes are due to failure or rejection by the society and not for purely economic reasons as was in the past. Generation gap too has been playing a significant role in driving the youngsters to commit suicide. Parents are busy in their respective professions and hardly have time to deal with the problems of their wards. People, especially students are in need of support during examination period, but they seldom find moral support.

Indian scenario : 

Indian scenario Over 16,000 students suicides in the last three years. (Acc. to Health Ministry) Out of every three cases of suicide reported every 15 minutes in India, one is committed by a youth in the age group of 15 to 29. Every 90 minutes a teenager tries to commit suicide in India. Many of these attempts are half-hearted cries for attention, help and love. But every six hours, one succeeds Girls may be more likely to make suicidal attempts, but boys are more likely to make a truly lethal suicide attempt.

 Failure in Examination  

No of Suicides in 2009 = 2010

No of Suicides in 2010= 2479  

No of Suicides in 20011 = 2381

The number of

suicides due to ‘Divorce’, ‘Illegitimate

Pregnancy’ and ‘Professional/Career Problem’

have increased by 54.5%, 20.3% and 20.1%   respectively as compared to previous year.

It is

observed that 11.7% (355 out of 3,035) of

children (upto 14 years) who committed

suicides belonged to Tamil Nadu. 13.2% (1,419

out of 10,785) senior citizens (60 years &

above) also belonged to Tamil Nadu.

60.6% (20 out of 33) victims in Daman & Diu,

57.5% (88 out of 153) victims in Meghalaya and

57.1% (36 out of 63) victims in Daman & Diu

were young (15-29 years) as compared to the

national average of 35.4%. 39.4% of the victims

(13 out of 33) in Nagaland were middle aged

(30-44 years) against the national average of

34.1%.

In 2000, the suicide rate was six persons per lakh and in 2012 it has increased to 11 suicides per lakh. The age group that is committing suicide is between 15 and 35.

In 2006, 5,857 students — or 16 a day — committed suicide across India due to exam stress. And these are just the official figures

[Source: TOI, March 2008, Report]


A study (conducted 10 years back) had found that 16 per cent of Mumbai students were depressed - that is 2 per cent more than the students in Boston. It also found that 8 percent of these were suicidal.

Today, 10 years later, researchers say things could be worse.
- Statistics show that India has the highest suicide rate in the world, marginally behind China, but ahead of the west
- 95-100 people commit suicide in India every day
- And of these a whopping 40% are in the adolescent age group
[Source: CNN-IBN Report, Jan 13 2010]


Crime Records Bureau figures show India’s suicide rate has risen 8 per cent a year for 10 years. According to a 2007 estimate, 45 per cent of suicides involve people between 15 and 29. And WHO lists suicide among the top three causes of death in the age group 15-35.

The motive when students kill themselves is invariably academic pressure - this accounts for 99 per cent suicides in the age group 12-18 - but psychiatrists sought to assess why the trend has risen of late and put it down to three reasons: deprivation of sunshine, exam results, and the copycat syndrome.

Distressed teenagers account for 70 per cent of the phone calls to a helpline run by NGO Aasra, says founder Johnson Thomas.
The leading mental health institution in India, the National Institute of Mental Health and Mental Sciences in Bengaluru, has been involved in several studies to understand why the rates of people taking their own lives, particularly younger people, are on the rise.

In the last formal study conducted in 2007, the Institute found that 122,637 people ended their own lives and for every successful act, it estimated that 8-10 attempts go unreported.

Nearly three-fourths of those taking their own lives were aged 16-45 years.

Bengaluru topped the list of cities where the largest number had taken place, followed by Chennai. In New Delhi data collected from 1,205 adolescents (aged 12-19 years) in two schools revealed that, on average, one in seven adolescents had thought about ending their life.

A lack of methods to help identify youngsters at risk further hinders prevention efforts.

[Source: Guardian, Jan 28 2010]

Since the start of 2010, more than 20 students have killed themselves in Mumbai, India’s financial capital
Opportunities that have come with two decades of economic boom and open markets have also brought more job anxiety, higher expectations and more pressure to achieve, mental health experts said.

India has some of the world's highest suicide rates, with many believing the biggest risk group to be rural farmers facing debt after poor harvests.

However, the study - published in the Lancet medical journal on Friday - says suicide rates are highest in the 15-29 age group, peaking in southern regions that are considered richer and more developed with better education, social welfare and health care.

As per NCRB statistics, 1,35,585 persons committed suicide in the country in 2011. NCRB statistics from 2002 shows that the annual suicide cases in the country always stood above the 1 lakh mark and the highest number of cases was in 2011. In 2002, it was 1,10,417 cases.

That puts the young at high risk - a new phenomenon experts said has happened recently as more middle-class youths strive to meet achievement expectations, and new technologies like cell phones and social networking sites help break down traditional family units once relied on for support.

Overall, the report uses a national government survey of deaths in 2001-03 to estimate 187,000 suicides took place in 2010, making it the cause of 3 per cent of deaths that year.

Suicide rates in India are highest in the 15-29 age group:

Suicide rates in India are highest in the 15-29 age group: Report

Associated Press | Updated: June 22, 2012 22:17 IST

Young Indians are more likely to commit suicide than previously thought, especially those living in wealthier and more educated regions, according to a study on Friday that experts say suggests India's rapid development is driving many youths to despair.

Opportunities that have come with two decades of economic boom and open markets have also brought more job anxiety, higher expectations and more pressure to achieve, mental health experts said.

India has some of the world's highest suicide rates, with many believing the biggest risk group to be rural farmers facing debt after poor harvests.

However, the study - published in the Lancet medical journal on Friday - says suicide rates are highest in the 15-29 age group, peaking in southern regions that are considered richer and more developed with better education, social welfare and health care.

That puts the young at high risk - a new phenomenon experts said has happened recently as more middle-class youths strive to meet achievement expectations, and new technologies like cell phones and social networking sites help break down traditional family units once relied on for support.

Overall, the report uses a national government survey of deaths in 2001-03 to estimate 187,000 suicides took place in 2010, making it the cause of 3 per cent of deaths that year.

The WHO reports about 1 million suicides a year, which would be a rate of about 14 per 100,000 in a global population of 7 billion. By comparison, the U.S. had 37,790 suicides in 2010, or a rate of 12.2 per 100,000, while India's rate under the Lancet's projected suicide tally of 187,000 would be near 16 - far higher than earlier reports and estimates of around 10.

There has been little scientific examination of suicide motives in India.

While The Lancet study does not address the question of motivation, the report's authors, as well as experts not associated with the study, saw few likely reasons for the rise in suicide among young people beyond the increased pressure that has come with new economic opportunity and social fragmentation.

The higher rates may come from "the greater likelihood of disappointments when aspirations that define success and happiness are distorted or unmet by the reality faced by young people in a rapidly changing society," said Dr. Vikram Patel, one of the report's authors, in an editorial printed in The Hindu.

He also noted online social networking was making "loneliness more common." He admits his conclusion is conjecture, but says "I cannot think of any more plausible explanation."

Among men, 40 per cent of suicides were among people age 15-29. For women, it was nearly 60 per cent.

The numbers mean young men are nearly as likely to die from suicide as in traffic accidents, while rates of suicide among young women are nearly as high as the rate of death by complications from pregnancy or childbirth.

The revelation has shocked many in a country notorious for poor maternal health care statistics.

"We can only guess broadly at what might be behind it. People say partially the rapid changes on society that have come with globalization, the breakdown of the families," said Dr. Roy Abraham, president of the Indian Psychiatric Society.

There are few facilities in India for mental health problems, and stigmas prevent many people from seeking support. Telephone help lines are often not adequately staffed, and many schools do not have counsellors.

"Mental health is not a priority in India," he said. "It has to be a priority. Many people are not aware of the fact that mental health is behind suicide."

Courts are starting to mandate programs for educating people about public health issues including suicide, sexuality and drug abuse, experts said.

"The young face very high competition and pressure from families to succeed. Many parents think their child should come first in the class. Of course, that can't happen," said Dr. T.S. Sathyanarayana Rao, head of psychiatry at J. S. S. Medical College & Hospital in Mysore, 140 kilometers (87 miles) from the nation's technology centre of Bangalore.

When youths start to despair, they often don't think to seek help, or shun the idea because "they think psychiatry is only for crazy people," he said.

Many suicide cases still go unreported, expert said, as people hide what is still an illegal act in India, the report says.

Very valuable information for all the expectant and the new Mothers.

Very valuable information for all the expectant and the new Mothers. 
Don't forget to share, it can really help lot of people. 
Postpartum depression (PPD), also called postnatal depression, is a type of clinical depression which can affect women, typically after childbirth. Few coping tips for postpartum depression.

Aasra in the Wall Street Journal

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/06/11/indias-suicide-problem/
Saturday, June 15, 2013 13:53:0 GMT
 
 

India

• Log In
• Register
• Subscribe Now

• June 11, 2013, 2:00 PM

India’s Suicide Problem

 

 

By Atish Patel

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Shown, Jiah Khan.

The apparent suicide of 25-year-old Bollywood actor Jiah Khan last week was greeted with shock in India, a country where suicide is the second-most common cause of death among people aged 15 to 29, according to a study in The Lancet.
Of the 114,800 males who took their own lives in India in 2010, 40% were aged 15 to 29, while 56% of the 72,100 women were in that age bracket, the study said. The report’s lead author, Vikram Patel, a psychiatrist and joint director of the Centre for Global Mental Health, says female suicides in India are often linked to relationships, including domestic violence and forced marriage. For men, the major reasons were related to work and financial difficulties, he told India Real Time.
“It reflects the general role of men and women in India,” Mr. Patel said.
In India, people carry out suicide mainly by self-poisoning with pesticide and hanging, which are more lethal than methods typically used in the West like overdosing on non-prescribed drugs, Mr. Patel said.
Public health interventions such as restricting access to pesticides might help prevent many suicide deaths in India, Mr. Patel wrote in The Lancet report, which said there were about 187,000 suicides in India in 2010, the second highest in the world after China. The fact that these two nations have the most suicides is in itself unsurprising given their large populations.
India’s suicide rate is about 16 per 100,000 people a year, the study said. The rate in the U.S. in 2010 was 12.4 per 100,000 people, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while in the U.K. in 2011 it was 11.8 per 100,000, the Office for National Statistics said. Countries with higher rates include South Korea, Greenland and Eastern European nations like Lithuania, reports show.
Through rapid urbanization, India has witnessed a change in family structure, with people moving out of joint families into nuclear families. Although the effect of this change has not been studied in detail, some experts believe this has impacted India’s suicide rate.
“Families now are fractured and the support systems in place earlier are not working,” said Johnson Thomas from Aasra, a Mumbai-based organization that runs a 24-hour suicide prevention helpline.
The confidential helpline, which has been operating for 15 years, gets 35 calls a day, Mr. Thomas said. That adds up to about 12,775 a year. The majority of calls are from men, who struggle more than women to express their feelings, Mr. Thomas added.
“Indian society doesn’t allow men to be emotional… they don’t really have anyone to confide in,” he said.
In a study published in 2011, an international team of health researchers said India had the worst rate of severe depression of 18 countries surveyed, with 36% of respondents showing at least five symptoms, such as loss of appetite and a sense of worthlessness, for a period of two weeks or more.
That study also showed that women were twice as likely as men to suffer from depression.
There is a lack of specialist mental health experts and psychiatric clinics in rural India, where more suicides occur. According to The Lancet report, suicide rates in rural India are about twice as high as in urban areas. The problem is exacerbated by the easy availability of pesticides and a lack of emergency care, the report noted.
Clinics addressing mental health issues like depression have opened in cities in recent years. But there is a stigma in getting psychiatric treatment, doctors and experts say.
“People continue to have a closed mindset related to mental illness,” said Sanjay Chugh, a New Delhi-based psychiatrist who runs his own private clinic.
“Mental illness is still understood as a form of disease which will be ‘fixed’ by faith healers, a divine intervention or through rituals or prayers,” he added.
Also, suicide is a crime in India.
In a 2011 ruling, India’s Supreme Court asked Parliament to consider quashing the law, but no action has been taken. Under the law, a suicide survivor can be sentenced with a one year prison term or a fine, or both.
In a 2007 report in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Lakshmi Vijaykumar, who runs a suicide prevention network called Sneha in the southern Indian city of Chennai, said that making suicide illegal has proved counterproductive.
“Emergency care to those who have attempted suicide is denied as many hospitals and practitioners hesitate to provide the needed treatment fearful of legal hassles,” she wrote in the report.
“The actual data on attempted suicides becomes difficult to ascertain as many attempts are described to be accidental to avoid entanglement with police and courts,” she added.
Last year, the government drafted a bill to decriminalize the act of attempting suicide but it hasn’t yet been introduced for discussion in Parliament.
“More than legalization of the act, what is needed is spreading knowledge and making people more mindful and sensitive toward mental health as a field, as it would automatically open doors for devising means and methods to combat it,” Mr. Chugh said.
Worldwide, up to one million people die by suicide every year, according to the World Health Organization. In the last 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60%, says the WHO, and suicide is among the three leading causes of death among people aged 15 to 44.
A post-mortem report said the cause of Ms. Khan’s death was asphyxia due to hanging. It ruled out foul play.

Atish Patel is a London-born multimedia journalist based in Delhi. You can follow him on Twitter @atishpatel.
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @IndiaRealTime.

Aasra in Governance Now magazine 6 June 2013

 http://governancenow.com/news/regular-story/elegy-jiah-khan-yeh-hai-mumbai-meri-jaan

 

 

Elegy for Jiah Khan: Yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan

Famous at 19, gone at 25: why is life a strife for the young and restless in Bollywood, and Mumbai in general?

Geetanjali Minhas | Mumbai | June 06 2013

If Jiah Khan’s suicide has taught us anything, it is the uncertainty of life. But shorn of the philosophical touch, it’s a tale gone horribly wrong for a young aspirant in the Maximum City.
While Jiah’s suicide by hanging at her flat in Juhu, an upscale suburban, has got the media spotlight for obvious reasons – the showbiz connection – what cannot be overlooked is the fact that Mumbai, for young outsiders itching to make a career, can be good and evil, inviting and foreboding, warm and cold, enticing and frightening. And all at the same time.
Also read: Jiah death brings to fore life, strife of young India
For the sake of attention, if nothing else, we might talk about Bollywood, but minus a few details here and there it could well be relevant to any struggling, striving, talented youth in Mumbai – more so those coming from outside.
Exactly 20 years and 2 months after the mysterious death of actress Divya Bharti – she died after falling from fifth floor of a building, allegedly jumping off in an inebriated state on April 5, 1993 – Jiah’s suicide has brought to focus the issue of depression, disillusionment and loneliness in the showbiz industry of a city that is said to never sleep.
At first glance, the two deaths are as different as chalk is from cheese. Divya Bharti, then 19, was a more successful actor, married to producer Sajid Nadiawala, had plum projects on hand and was said to be on way to a glorious Bollywood career when she died.
In contrast, Jiah Khan, 25, started off with a bang as a teen (she acted opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Nishabd in 2007, and even bagged the Filmfare best debutant nomination), and then headed nowhere (supporting roles opposite Aamir Khan in Ghajini and Akshay Kumar in Housefull, in 2010; and nothing thereafter). Jiah was also reportedly undergoing problems in her relationship with her boyfriend: actor Aditya Pancholi’s son Suraj.
And if those weren’t enough, Jiah’s mother Rabiya Amin, a small-time Bollywood actor in early ’80s, has said that Jiah had auditioned for a film in Hyderabad  on Sunday and was unhappy about it.
All this leads to one conclusion: she was under stress, immense stress. Those who knew Jiah say she was also despondent and disillusioned about her career and personal life. All three are adjective boxes that Divya Bharti might have checked had she been asked to state her state of mind towards her last days — if the industry grapevine is to believed, she was  being pressured to ‘compromise’ with underworld elements.
Why is Bollywood/Mumbai so tough to crack?
Charmed by stories of success by rank outsiders – Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar in films and in every other arena of professional life – and the opening of more doors in television, fashion, beauty pageant, and reality show circuits, tens of hundreds land in the city of dreams. In showbiz, an abysmal 1 to 3 percent make  it.
While there is no success formula, ‘casting couch’ is said to come as a package deal in getting a break in  Bollywood – insiders call it an “accepted fact”, though most established  actors choose to deny it.
The film industry’s larger-than-life image dwarfs the perils and vices, and the ‘villains’ who come in many shades and hues –in the garb of misleading casting agents, secretaries, producers, directors and hangers on. In a hugely cut-throat competitive industry, there are no true friends.
And then there’s money, a key to struggle for both showbiz aspirants and others in professional life: house rents are high, clothes and accessories are expensive, and you need a good car to flaunt your status. Barring the handful who make it, it is a struggle for the rest to maintain  this façade.
Industry insiders say ingenious ways are invented  to  keep the wheel moving: those with a thick skin, a strong mind  and nerves of steel can withstand the multiple pressures, while the vulnerable and the gullible get sucked deeper in the  muck and grime and often get into alcohol, substance abuse and give in to sexual exploitation.
Not that all these cases lead to suicide, but many do – and it’s a fact writ large enough for us to wake up and smell the coffee. According to a report in aasrasuicideprevention.blogspot.in, a site on preventing suicides and addressing depression, a study on suicide mortality in India published by The Lancet last year pointed out that suicides were the second leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds. The National Crime Records Bureau reported 1,35,585 suicides in 2011.
In many sense, Bollywood is no different from any other high-pressure profession in Mumbai today, and suicides are not that uncommon a social phenomenon. Poignant but true, Mumbai is no place for the fainthearted. Like that Johny Walker song put it so aptly, “Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahan, zara hatt ke zara bachke, yeh hai Bambai meri jaan.”

Aasra in the Midday (05 June 2013)

http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2013/jun/050613-expert-speak-girl-interrupted.htm

Expert speak: Girl, interrupted

With suicide cases on the rise in the country, psychology experts speculate on what could have driven Jiah Khan to end her life

June 05, 2013

Mumbai

Shakti Shetty

 

 

 

 

Ever since the news about Jiah Khan started doing the rounds, what’s everyone thinking about is what could have driven the young actress to end her life so abruptly. And what’s more alarming is that with every passing year, there seems to be more and more suicide cases being reported in the country.
Photos: Jiah Khan - Snapshots from the past

In a medical study published in 2012, the estimated number of suicides in India in 2010 was about 1,87,000. A large proportion of adult suicide deaths were found to occur between the ages of 15 years and 29 years. Incidentally, of the five lakh people reported to die of suicide worldwide every year, 20 per cent are Indians.
While in an industry where one-upmanship is rife, there is always pressure to perform. The entertainment industry has always been demanding but to what extent? We spoke to psychology experts to get their views on what could have prompted the 25-year-old to take such a drastic step.
Missing Plan B?
Seema Hingorrany, clinical psychologist and author, points out the lack of planning in case of professional disasters. “In a metropolitan city like Mumbai, depression often goes undetected. There’s a deep sense of loneliness that even the immediate family or friends can’t see.


Especially, in the case of an actress like Jiah who has seen some instances of success only to face a downward slide in her acting career. So what she didn’t have was a Plan B. Unfortunately, she was left with a Plan A that simply didn’t work.”
Photos: Who was Jiah Khan
Turns out the toughest part in showbiz is not to bag stardom but to sustain it. Johnson Thomas of Aasra, a helpline against suicide, says several factors could have contributed to the actress’ drastic decision. “The young actress in question did seek stardom and even received some with her debut film. Later, she was seen in minor roles. Sadly, the film industry seems great provided you’ve got work and it turns cruel as soon as you run out of work.”
Clinical psychologist Varkha Chulani emphasises on the overwhelming possibility of depression. “From a clinical point of view, we don’t know yet whether it was an impulsive suicide or a depressive suicide.

The former is a phase where a person decides that life is not worth living and the latter is a case of elongated hopelessness. In Jiah’s case, we’ve read about her break-up and struggling career but then she also reportedly went to audition for a Telugu film. Someone with a severe case of depression won’t even be able to think of work.”
Life’s like that
Lata Shenava, counsellor and educator, takes a different route while explaining the more deep-rooted problem related to parenting. “There’s something structurally wrong with the way kids are raised nowadays. For the most part, they are put in a comfort-oriented environment and expected to grow strong, which is impossible. As a result, we see youngsters not being able to face challenges.” 

Aasra Helpline in Lokmat