Preventing
suicide is everyone’s business. Nearly 100 Americans die by suicide
every day, and in the past year, more than eight million Americans 18
or older had thought seriously about suicide. Suicide in India is
slightly above world rate. Of the half million people reported to die of
suicide worldwide every year, 20% are Indians, for 17.% of world population. In the last two decades, the suicide rate has increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000, with very high rates in some southern regions. Suicide
attempts are ten times the suicide completers. A suicide prevention
program is only as effective as its ability to reach people in times of
crisis.
As
members of a family, a school, business, neighborhood, faith
communities, friends, and our government, we all need to work together
to solve this problem. We simply can no longer allow those we live,
work and play with to ever believe that suicide is an acceptable
solution even in the worst of times. We have to learn learning about
the symptoms of mental illnesses and substance abuse, the warning signs
of suicide, how to stand with and support someone who is in crisis,
and how to get someone you care about the help they need. Most of all,
we need to be open to talking about these issues in our communities.
Once we begin to support those in need, and whenever possible treat
their mental and substance use disorders with the same urgency as any
other health condition, we will reduce the rates of suicide, advance
health and improve the use of limited health care dollars.
The
popularity of suicides (37.8%) in India are by those below the age of
30 years, and 71% of suicides in India are by persons below the age of
44 years. This imposes a huge social, emotional and economic burden.
Facebook,
in partnership with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, has
introduced features to encourage its users to confidentially report
suicidal comments when and where they’re most likely to see them on
Facebook.
The new features,
available in the U.S. and Canada as of Tuesday, are the equivalent to a
suicide hotline for the Facebook generation, where the old-fashioned
dial-in is replaced by a Facebook-click-to-report and chat-based
counselor outreach system.
If a Facebook member come across a suicidal message in her stream, she can click on the update to report it or fill out a form.
S/he’ll then receive an email from Facebook with a link to begin a
confidential chat session with a Lifeline crisis worker. The email
response will also include the phone number for the free hotline.
It
is reported that average handles 70,000 calls per month are receiving
by Lifeline. We have heard from our Facebook fans and others that there
are many people in crisis who don’t feel comfortable picking up the
phone,” Lifeline project director John Draper said. “This new service
provides a way for them to get the help they need in the way they want
it.”
And
when it comes to suicide prevention, being in the right place at the
right time is critical. Of course, speed matters too, and this program
could drastically accelerate the time between a person’s suicidal
comment and potentially life-saving intervention.
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