CONFERENCE REPORT
Suicide prevention
strategies
ANANT BHAN
The departments of epidemiology and psychiatry,
NIMHANS, have been organising a series of workshops on 'Suicide prevention:
capacity building strategies' involving doctors, teachers, police staff, etc. to
address the issue of increasing suicide rates in Bangalore, the 'suicide
capital' of India. The aim of the workshop series was to evolve a National
Suicide Prevention Strategy. As a part of this, a workshop was organised for
media professionals to examine the role of media in the glamorisation of suicide
and to evolve parameters for ethical reporting of suicides. This report refers
to some aspects relevant to the medical profession.
It was noted that suicide was becoming a public
health problem throughout the country. There was a need to do research on the
subject, and to translate the research into practice. The present project was
started with a seed grant from the Department of Science and Technology,
Government of Karnataka, for work with the police in 12-15 hospitals. The
department had prepared two epidemiological reports on suicide. NIMHANS had
begun a helpline in Bangalore along with the Medico-Pastoral Association and
Rotary Bangalore East.
Most of the research in this field was from the
West and would not necessarily be applicable in the Indian context. The causes
of suicides were multifactorial with a predominance of sociocultural factors in
India. Some studies from the West have suggested that media portrayal of
suicides did have an effect on the increasing suicide rates in the country but
this needs to be studied in India.
Suicide attempts not only affected the individual
but also the family and community. The media needed to step in and address
trends promoting suicide. The impact of cinema was substantial and was working
against efforts to prevent suicide attempts. It was felt that the media
sometimes indulged in irresponsible reporting, such as the sensationalising of
celebrity suicides.
Two queries were raised. Did the media have the
power to trigger suicides in some people? Did it also have the power to prevent
suicide?
It was suggested that there were limitations in the
way the media could respond appropriately to suicide. The fact is that the press
could just be a mirror of the society. The mass media could only act as a
catalyst and it was for society to change.
Data by the group Mythri from Cochin, where there
was a falling trend of suicides, showed that in the reporting of suicides,
unusual methods such as suicide pacts and celebrity suicides got prominence.
However, there was under-reporting of preventable health problems such as
depression, of people who had managed to deal positively with their suicidal
thoughts, and of early identification and prevention in those at risk. Media
suicide stories with a potential 'contagion' effect were those that paid undue
emphasis on the method, were repeated prominently, involved celebrities, and
highlighted oversimplified causes and suicides associated with a touch of
glorification.
There was also a need for a commitment to tackle
this problem by the medical profession. Thus a panel discussion was moderated by
Ms Shailaja Santosh and involved artists, journalists and medical professionals.
Among the main points that emerged was that health professionals need to
consider meeting journalists as an opportunity and not a threat. Some other
general principles: learn to listen to the cry for help; learn to share when
depressed; and when you encounter severe depression, consult experts.
Some suggestions included counselling training for
school teachers so that they could help during examinations; reorientation of
general practitioners so that they could identify the depressed and counsel them
at the earliest; working at different levels with formal and informal community
leaders, and pre-examination counselling for students as well as
teachers/parents.
To conclude, there was a need to strike a balance
between freedom of expression, freedom of the media, public health interest
(minimising the risks) and the commercial interests that influence media
reporting and policy. The workshop concluded with the framing of guidelines for
media reporting of suicides.
ANANT BHAN
Community
Health Cell, 367, Srinivasa Nilaya, Jakkasandra 1st Main, Koramangala 1st Block,
Bangalore 560 034 E-mail:drbhan@sify.com
