WINCHESTER HILLS – While the country marked Teen Suicide Prevention Week on February 16 to 23, a young man was rescued from harming himself in a quiet parking lot on February 21.
Mondeor Community Policing Forum (CPF) Sector 2 patrollers saw a suspicious looking male standing by a tree at the parking lot of a gym in Winchester Hills. They made a prompt U-turn to investigate.
When the CPF patrollers arrived, they found the youngster with a belt around his neck; the belt was also tied to a thick branch of the tree. Upon closer inspection the officers saw a white garden chair, which made them suspect that the youngster may have been ready to jump off the chair and hang himself.
According to Mental Health Information Centre SA, research shows that suicide accounts for 9.5 per cent of unnatural deaths in young people in the country and anyone expressing suicidal thoughts should be taken seriously. A large number of suicides go unreported and many suicides are not recognised as such. Depression carries a high risk of suicide. Young people often feel that they have nowhere to turn to.
Mondeor CPF are appealing to parents to please be aware of any signs of change in behaviour or depression, whether their children are high school scholars or varsity students. A child who is suspected of showing signs of depression needs urgent help.
Characteristics of adolescents who are most likely to make suicide attempts include medication overdose as the most common method used, a high incidence of family pathology and psychiatric disorders, a history of suicide or suicide attempts in the family, impulsive behaviour, nearly always an immediate precipitant of suicide e.g. conflict with parents, breaking up with boy/girlfriend or a disciplinary crisis at school.
Warning signs to be aware of in people who may be suffering from depression or are most likely to resort to suicide include: sudden behavioural changes or risk-taking behaviour, depression or feelings of hopelessness, feelings of guilt, a sense of failure, withdrawal, changes in eating or sleeping patterns, and a preoccupation with death or dying.
When an officer of Sector 2 CPF spoke to the suicidal youngster, the issues that drove him to attempt hanging himself and which were affecting him dramatically were found to be easy to resolve.
Major causes or precipitators of suicidal behaviour are attributed to depression, family problems (unstable family life, violence, abuse), physical or sexual trauma/abuse, high stress levels, interpersonal relationship problems, risky behaviour e.g. substance abuse or poverty and unemployment.
