Suicides: The Real Pandemic?

They are considered a failure, a family, or social shame that must be hidden. Situations that lead us to total ostracism and almost to denial by society.

Suicide is a painful topic. In 2018, The World Health Organization (WHO), made an alert call to governments and health entities worldwide, declaring the suicide rate as a true pandemic. With the recent crisis caused by the COVID virus, this percentage has skyrocketed considerably, even when the media decide to divert their focus to another, no less critical situation. Measure that continues to keep the problem invisible.

In addition, the school system -it would be said that at a global level- lacks training in emotional education. Hence, there is no average age for people who can be profiled as possible suicides. So much so that there have recently been cases of infants up to 10 years of age. One of the main causes of a child or adolescent suicide is bullying.

While in adults, the most common causes may be a job loss or a love break, which would partly explain the increase in suicides during the recent social isolation due to the pandemic. However, loneliness, anxiety, depression, stress, and other associated factors can be considered possible triggers.

It is noteworthy that in countries with a higher quality of life, both economically and socially, there are very high suicide rates, such as in the case of Japan, Scandinavian countries, the USA, and Europe. Based on these statistics, areas such as Latin America and a large part of Africa and Asia have lower suicide rates even when the quality of life conditions decrease compared to countries with a more stable economy.

It should be noted that many specialists and therapists in emotional matters emphasize that a person who dies by suicide does not really want to extinguish their existence; they want to end the suffering generated by the situation they are facing.

Also read: GROUNDING: A LIFE-CHANGING PRACTICE WITH GREAT HEALTH BENEFITS

According to WHO, in 2015, suicides would have increased by 60% over the last 45 years, which means one suicide every 40 seconds. It is important to remember that many suicides remain anonymous, so they are not part of that statistic, which would mean that the figure may be higher. The call is to take care of our emotional health because not only does our mental balance depends on it—also our physical health and our own life.

At some point, we all face situations that put us to the test, so we must always keep in mind that everything is temporary, as is the problem you may be facing. It's not wrong to feel bad; evil comes when we close ourselves to possibilities!