Deepika Padukone delves deep into suicidal issues

HYDERABAD: The recent tragic events have made us all realise that now more than ever, we need to prioritise mental health and intensify our focus on #SuicidePrevention. In regards to this, Deepika Padukone, Founder, The Live Love Laugh Foundation and top Bollywood star, had a conversation with Dr Shyam Bhat, Physician, Psychiatrist and Trustee, The Live Love Laugh Foundation and Dr Soumitra Pathare, Consultant Psychiatrist and Director of Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy.

The conversation started off with the straight question: Understanding what is suicide and why do people do what they do? Dr Shyam Bhat explains, “We tend not to talk about it due to the stigma and fear. Any talk of suicide is done in hushed tones and adds mystery to it. Today, suicide is the the largest public health crisis India is facing. This tragedy happens 1,000 times a day across the country. Suicide is the leading cause of death in this age group. Suicide is taking away the young generation causing loss and trauma”. Dr Shyam goes on to add that the society doesn’t understand suicide enough despite talks and posts on social media etc. It shows there are many misconceptions around it. People ask “This person (who committed suicide) seems to have everything, but why did he take this extreme step.”  

What leads to it?
The implication is that there is a life event that leads the person to believe life is not worth living. It’s like asking why a person died of a heart attack. We understand that heart attack has happened as a result of many things such as stress, blood pressure, etc and similarly one has to see what are the risk factors that can increase a person’s vulnerability to drive them to suicide. 

To the next question by Deepika, “Is suicide specific to an event? Can a big failure, bad grades or loss of love lead to suicides?,” Dr Shyam says, “One cannot and should not attribute a direct singular cause for suicide. It is a sum total of many events in the past. Understand the state of mind of a person who is vulnerable. The person fails to see an alternative for their problem, feels lonely, helpless, isolated and anguish, the mind cannot think of anything and ending the current scenarios will stop the excruciating pain. What brought the person to this place? There is an impulsive one at times and at times the person has been thinking of it for a long time,” he said.

Is there a connection?
Is it possible for a person to commit suicide without suffering from mental illness? There is an ongoing debate on whether or not there is always a mental illness. Unfortunately, unlike a physical diagnosis mental health still does not have a test and it is based on their symptoms. According to some studies, about 50 percent Indians who committed suicide did not really have those symptoms. From clinical depression to lifelong disability to handle inadequacies, there can be multiple factors. If we can intervene and help them with a helpline and ensuring they don’t have access to lethal weapons we can prevent impulsively - acute suicide crisis time, we can save 20 percent of these lives. In others, we need to understand if they have a mental illness.

Genetic reason?
Is it hereditary? There is no straightforward answer and mental health has multiple issues like genetic reasons (like in twins have 30 pc chance if one twin is suicidal), child sexual abuse survivors tend to have alterations in brain increase the risk of suicide. The conversation is now available on The Life Love Laugh Foundation’s website. Deepika has been advocate of mental health and has been  using her influencer status to help people understand mental illness better and act on it promptly.