COUNTRY Representative of Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr Kathleen Israel warned, Tuesday, that suicide is an ill by which everyone is at risk of being affected.

Depression hurts

“We are all at risk. None of us should feel complacent that we are spared from any mental health issue,” she said at a workshop co-sponsored by the agency and hosted at Regency Suites Hotel on Hadfield Street, Georgetown.

The workshop was sponsored by PAHO in collaboration with the Health Ministry and Dalhousie University Department of Psychiatry, with the aim of enhancing Guyana’s capacity for suicide prevention.

Israel said the world today is a place where the stresses of life compound the existence of all human beings and those who are not dealing with any mental health issue should feel blessed and encouraged.

Dr. Kathleen Israel

“The world we live in places us under a great deal of stress and some manage better than others but we are all individuals and some are more vulnerable than others and we deal with stress in different ways,” the diplomat said.

She said it is in dealing with such stresses that some, unable to manage, reach a point where they are unable to see the woods for the trees and turn to extreme methods as the alternative for addressing problems.

“We are all at risk for mental health problems,” Israel concluded.

She noted that more than 90 per cent of people who die by suicide had a mental illness at the time of death and the most common is depression, which occurs because of an imbalance of chemicals in the brain but is highly treatable.

Unfortunately, many people do not receive treatment for it and are at suicide risk.

Asking who is responsible for dealing with people who are troubled and how is such a state recognised, Israel said: “Everyone is in a unique position to identify some of the signs and symptoms. Everyone is responsible.”

Kevin Caruso

She proffered this view against the premise that peers of those affected are closest to them and so, by acknowledging the responsibility to be vigilant, changes in behaviour can be identified.

“We are close to our friends, our relatives, the community in general and we know the normal behaviour of the people we come into contact with. When there is a change in that normal, then we should become attentive,” Israel said.

Assistance
She added that, even if the one recognises the problem and acknowledges that, on their own, they cannot handle it, assistance is available.

“We all have a role to play. We all need to be vigilant. We all need to be observant and we all need to be supportive. Suicide is a problem not unique to Guyana,” she noted.

Acknowledging the complexities behind suicide, Israel maintained that it is preventable and manageable, once there are the requisite collaborative efforts.

“If no one reaches out to these people, can you imagine what the next step will be?” she asked.

Israel posited that persons with suicidal tendencies are not those who will volunteer their problems, rather their peers have a moral responsibility to identify behaviour changes, which, ultimately, lead to suicide.

In that context, she lauded the integration of mental health into the general public health arena as a quintessential move.

Israel conceded that mental health is still very much stigmatised and said, as long as that continues and people are treated in a way that makes it appear that they are being offered a custodial type of care, the public will be playing into the stigma and discrimination of patients with mental health problems.

She said the vision for advancements in addressing mental health centres on having a system that is sufficiently balanced, which would not incur additional stress for the individual affected.

Israel said, in that way, those affected can be integrated into the community.

She emphasised that addressing suicide in a holistic manner will allow for not only the integration of mental health into the public health arena but also for an organisation of care that will minimise the stigma and discrimination.

In such a process, Israel said health workers have a key role to play in that the insight they have about mental health should not end with them but be passed on to the average Guyanese.

She also pledged PAHO support for the advancement of efforts to address suicide in Guyana and said the delivery of health care to the Guyanese people is a worthwhile endeavour.

Statistics
Statistics from the Health Ministry reveal that in this country, for 2008, there were 168 verified deaths by suicide and 458 reported attempts.

Presently, the Health Ministry policy is that every death by suicide and attempt will be identified because it is genuine public health problem and, in order to make a difference, the reality of its severity must be accepted.

The seriousness of the problem is reflected in the numbers which show that suicide is now the number one cause of death among persons aged between 15 and 45 years.

The workshop is part of the Health Ministry’s gatekeepers’ initiative, an effort to involve citizens as stakeholders, who act as their brothers’ keepers and assist in identifying individuals at risk of suicide.

Activist for persons suffering from mental health issues, Mr. Kevin Caruso said people who die by suicide are not weak but ill.

The Founder, Executive Director, Editor-in-Chief, Senior Writer and Forum Administrator of www.suicide.org, a United States based support network declared he is very tired of hearing the word weak used in association with a suicide.

“It is an extremely ignorant statement to say that a person died by suicide because he or she was weak.

“People die by suicide because they have a mental illness, most probably depression and the illness was untreated or not properly treated.

“The word weak needs to be expunged from any dialogue about suicide. People who have any other illnesses are not called weak. yet people with mental illnesses or people who die by suicide are.

“ Why? Ignorance. People are rarely stigmatised for other illnesses besides mental illnesses. Why? Ignorance,” he contended.

“You can help combat this ignorance. Every time someone uses the word ‘weak’ about someone who died by suicide, speak up. Explain that the person was not weak, but probably had untreated depression. And depression is an illness. And just like any other illness, it requires treatment. Yes, I am tired of hearing the word ‘weak’ when a special person dies by suicide…The person who died, and the suicide survivors, deserve better. People who die by suicide are ill, not weak,” he opined.