Why India Needs a National Suicide Prevention Policy Now
In 2020, the National TB Elimination Program emphasized the aim of the Government of India to eliminate tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the global target of 2030. While that ambitious goal may not have been fully achieved, it demonstrated the country's will and direction to tackle major health issues. Now, we need a similar campaign for suicide prevention. The 2023 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, released this week, should serve as a wake-up call.
Suicide has emerged as the most common cause of death among 15-29-year-olds in India. Various interventions can be considered, but periodic voluntary screening for emotional disability should become a norm in every educational institution. For instance, if the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) can allocate significant funds for tech fests, why not encourage mental health fests?
In my experience working with educational institutions, both private and municipal schools, a simple exercise of giving blank chits to every student to write anonymously about their feelings has yielded surprising results. At least one to three students often express a desire to die. When this happens, we try to trace these students through their handwriting and provide them with the necessary counseling.
A proper mapping of migrant workers or those who have become invisible on the margins is now a necessity. Lawmakers should encourage conversations on mental health and develop programs to address these issues. We need comprehensive data, including rural and urban statistics, gender differences, caste, and religion, to better understand the phenomenon of self-harm. According to NCRB data, 67% of suicide victims were married, while 26.1% were unmarried, indicating that marriage is no longer a protective factor.
Poorly-addressed interpersonal issues, family quarrels, financial issues, depression, and violence are common causes of suicide. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found that the causes attributed to suicides are often unscientific, as they are largely reported by the police, family, and neighbors. Mental health professionals are rarely involved, and a psychological autopsy is almost never conducted.
Psychological autopsies involve mapping a person’s life backwards, checking their social media feed, reviewing their medical reports, and conducting detailed interviews with close friends, teachers, neighbors, and significant others. This is a standard procedure in the armed forces and should be extended to civilian suicides to develop a comprehensive suicide prevention policy.
When the 2024 NCRB data is released, it should include detailed information on suicides across every taluka, with a breakdown of gender, caste, and religion. This will make the dataset meaningful and not just a report to be shelved in libraries. As my late mentor, Professor NN Wig, used to say, the mental health revolution is too important to be left to mental health professionals alone. We need more hands on deck to prevent a suicide epidemic.
