Lahore suicide rates see recent surge

Five of 10 people who committed suicide over the last month-and-a-half were women

LAHORE: Five out of 10 people ,who took their lives in Lahore over the last one-and-a-half months, were young women; most of them with children.

On May 6, a 30-year-old schoolteacher committed suicide in Nawan Kot. On May 8, a mother of two hanged herself at her house in Sabzazar over a family dispute. On May 27, Rizia Bibi, a mother of three, took her life in Shafiaqabad by consuming poison reportedly due to poverty and domestic abuse by her husband. On May 29, Nafeesa Bibi, the mother of a minor child committed suicide by taking down poisonous pills due to poverty in Shahdara.

GCU’s psychology department chairman Dr Asir Ajmal said women have a higher tendency to commit suicide as compared to men. “There are three factors behind para-suicidal behaviours. Firstly, women who were molested in their childhood had a tendency to harm themselves as do wives who are victims of marital rape.



He added that people, who have low IQ level, are more likely to take their lives if things turn difficult. “They are inclined towards suicide as they lack the ability to reason or be rational. If something bad happens, they believe everything will be lost.”

Furthermore, people who do not have the ability to manage social relationships are also prone to psychological problems, which in most of cases lead to suicide.

When asked why married women take their lives without thinking about their offspring, Dr Asir said kids do not serve as a deterrent. As already pointed out, he said these women do not have high IQs or EQ and therefore do not make such calculations or considerations.

Services Hospital Psychiatry Department Assistant Professor Dr Nauman Mazhar said a person does not commit suicide under normal circumstances. “One has suicidal thoughts due to depression. It’s mainly because of hopelessness. A person does not see the light at the end of the tunnel and tries to end his or her life,” he added.

Punjab University Social Sciences Dean Dr Zikriya Zakir told The Express Tribune that modern social structures have put a lot of pressure on individuals and there was little support for them.

Doing away with the popular perception that poverty is a cause of suicide, he said ther was an abundance of food and availability of resources due to modern scientific inventions. However, he reiterated that the immense pressure on individuals was too much for some people to bear.

“We are not a welfare state and haven’t introduced safety nets for such individuals, unlike western countries. In that part of the world, people provide assistance to individual who are in extreme crisis situations which can lead to thoughts of suicide.

Back in the day, we had khanqahain where people would and vent their feelings. Such places would allow dejected people to sit and enjoy free meals, while having someone to speak to. “In our modern structure, there is a need to introduce a thorough system of psychological counselling,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2017.