Monday, November 19, 2007 Editorial: Call for empathy
SUICIDE can be prevented.
A person contemplating suicide gives signs of distress. Parents, teachers, neighbors and friends should listen to these hints and seek help.
When first reported, the suicide of 12-year-old student Mariannet Amper shocked but also galvanized many Filipinos. (In the light of autopsy findings that she had been sexually abused, authorities have elevated their investigation from suicide to murder.)
The popular perception is that the Filipino’s extroverted disposition and support system (including religiosity) save him or her from the depression that frequently leads to attempts at self-harm.
Yet mental disability has been declared as a “huge public health challenge” by the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
“Extreme life experiences” push 17-20 percent of Filipino adults over the brink. About 10-15 percent of Filipino children suffer from mental problems, pointed out the Philippine Psychiatric Association (PPA) Inc. in a July 28, 2007 article in Sun.Star Cebu.
In a 2000 disability survey of the National Statistics Office, mental illness is the third most common form of morbidity, next to visual and hearing impairments among Filipinos.
A 2004 survey by the Social Weather Stations for the Department of Health showed that 0.7 percent of Filipino families have a member suffering from a psychological disorder such as depression, schizophrenia and substance addiction.
Early warning
Suicide is a cry for help that, when unheeded, turns tragic.
Dr. Rene Obra also said that botched attempts, resulting in shallow slashes on the wrist or the discovery and prevention of the act, is the depressed person’s indirect way of seeking attention and help.
In a February 2007 interview with Sun.Star, the head of the psychiatric ward of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center urged families and friends to pay attention to early warning signs of depression and seek professionals to help a loved one deal with depression.
Obra said that a person’s attitude and handling of anxiety may be normal or pathological. The latter destabilizes mental health, which is defined by the World Health Organization as a “state of well-being that enables a person to realize his or her own abilities to cope with the normal stresses of life.”
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in the US identifies other factors, aside from mental illness, that make a person vulnerable: family stress/dysfunction, environmental risks (such as the presence of a firearm in the home) and situational crises (i.e., traumatic death of a loved one, physical or sexual abuse, family violence, etc.).
While adolescence is marked by mood swings, secretiveness and rebellion, the NASP advises families and authorities to look for telltale signs of suicide thinking: suicidal threats in direct and indirect statements, suicide notes and plans, prior suicidal behavior, making final arrangements (making funeral arrangements, writing a will, giving away prized possessions) and preoccupation with death.
Listen and act
Obra urged adults to act immediately when they notice changes in the minor’s behavior, appearance, thoughts and/or feelings.
The NASP website, www.pediatrics. about.com, urges adults not to leave the disturbed youth alone. Any means for self-harm should be removed.
However, the youth should not be made to feel he or she is being judged. Listen and reassure the person that he or she will not feel like this forever. Friends and peers should not promise to keep suicidal talk a secret. They should inform a parent, teacher or school psychologist. School staff may refer the youth and his or her parents to a health professional.
NACP underscores the critical role of parents, schools and communities in making youths resilient to life’s ups and downs. Family and peer support and cohesion, including good communication, helps a person cope with disappointments.
With life increasingly becoming “extreme,” mental health is a communal priority. Equipping children and teens with survival skills—adaptive coping and problem-solving skills, including conflict-resolution, general life satisfaction, good self-esteem, and sense of purpose—may spell the difference between life and death.
