Hyderabad: On World Suicide Prevention Day, observed on September 10, experts advise that signs of stress at home and at the workplace should not be treated lightly. Helping to defuse stressful situations can go a long way towards saving lives.
South Indian states show an alarmingly high rate of suicides. In Tamil Nadu, an alarming 12.5 per cent of deaths were caused by suicides, followed by AP with 10.5 and Karnataka at 9.4 per cent.A few reasons why youth turn suicidal are failure in academics, collapsed relationships, inability to meet the aspirations of parents and the standards of society.
Any or all these can make  them slump into a cycle of depression and, later, into feelings of uselessness. These upheavals, it has been scientifically proved, are a stage-wise process, which if nipped in the bud can go a long way towards prevention of drastic steps being taken. Immediate family members like parents, friends and colleagues also play a very important role.
Counsellor A. Thiagra-jan of the non-government organisation SEVA, says, “The build-up to suicide is a long-drawn-out procedure that may begin at a tender age. Often when children are continuously looked down upon, scolded too much or not given what they want, a feeling of deprivation could result. This, if continued to build up, can explode at some point and trigger suicide. It is very important that close family members, friends, spouses and even colleagues are considerate.”
In relationships, it is very important to be emotionally prepared for radical situations. Psychiatrist Dr P.K.N. Choudhary of Chetana Hospital says, “Most of the relationships in present times are based on peer pressure and not emotional maturity or love. When the halo breaks, the aggressive partner becomes dominant and the weak partner is not able to cope.
In such cases, the situation could become fatal if the weak partner has a history of rejection. A culmination of those rejections in the past and now the one in the present, becomes a reason for suicide.”
Whenever the survivors of suicide attempts have been questioned they have clearly indicated that their action was ‘foolish’. But in that  case, why was the build-up allowed to become a trigger?
Next: Depressed people need help: Experts

Depressed people need help: Experts
Hyderabad: The stigma associated with suicide is one of the major barriers in its prevention state non-government organisations and self-help groups working in the field of psychological counselling.
The problem is that the tendency to commit suicide is not looked upon as a disease but a stigma which demarks the family as bad which is wrong.
Counsellors say that it is a collective responsibility and must not be merely looked at the indiviual level as it would not help to solve the burgeoning issue.
Professionals dealing with day-to-day calls identify increasing stress levels, aspirations and also the labelled benchmarks as indicators which some of them are not able to cope with.
A counsellor with a self-help group explained, “A disturbed mind can be weak emotionally but has the time and also the methodology to plan out the death which indicates that if help was provided at any of the breaking points, there were definite chances to save the life.”
“One does not have to ask any questions to a disturbed person. One has to just motivate them enough to vent out what is in their mind. If that spilling over is done, the tendency to take the extreme step can be reduced drastically,” said Aparna Adhikari of Makro Foundation.