… and why you should talk more about it, in order to prevent it.
the year is 2018.
my board exams have just ended, and i am desperately lonely at home.
i dont have anyone to talk to, or to confide in.
the pressure is overwhelming and overbearing, with my parents telling me repeatedly to get good marks or lead a ‘shitty’ life.
not entirely true, but no one told me a conflicting viewpoint. so i believed my parents.
suddenly, one noon in the midst of preparing for jee, i get an idea.
what if i overdose on a medication? will i die?
so i embark to find out.
i chose paracetamol because we had almost unlimited quantity of it at home. i took out my scientific calculator, began checking the lethal dose online and starting plotting my own death.
i looked up the lethal dose of paracetamol online, and calculated how many pills it would take for me to reach heaven.
fortunately or unfortunately, my maths is pretty bad.
i ended up not taking enough meds.
when later i realized what i had tried was called a suicide attempt, i became gravely aware of my situation.
i realized i needed medical treatment.
i approached my dad, and really guardedly, told him what i needed.
he was unsure at first, wondering if it could be treated at home.
when he realized it couldnt, he took me to a hospital with a psychiatric department.
but why am i telling this story?
the simple purpose of this story is to illustrate the fact that awareness spreads by talking about it, suicide decreases by talking about awareness.
had i been aware that what i was trying to do was a suicide attempt, had i done it?
probably not.
which is why i always say- awareness spreads by talking about it, not suicide.
no one will want to attempt suicide by just knowing what it means, unless they have always had some such thoughts.
however, if a person has had no such thoughts, they wont attempt it, but will be aware that such a thing exists and will try to prevent it from happening should they see it happen.
this is what the basic definition of awareness is.
some people wrongly think talking about suicide can lead to more suicides- they couldnt be further from the truth!
talking about suicide reduces suicide, not increases it.
we should work on making ourselves and our society aware of constructs such as suicide, in order to prevent it.
just because no one knows what suicide is and how it happens, and that they dont know if it can be treated or not, should be no reason for further suicides.
suicidal ideations are treatable, one can use many different tools to get themselves in a better place of mind.
they can go the medications route, therapy route, self help workbooks route, and many such routes.
one just needs to start exploring these routes in earnest.
