Researcher says the public has a role in preventing suicide

While suicide is often kept a private issue in the Philippines, the public—with the help of mental health experts—can play a role in helping to prevent it.

 

“Suicide is preventable and everyone can contribute to the prevention of suicide. The members of the public have a crucial role to play in the prevention of suicide,” said Dr. Erminia Colucci, a researcher and lecturer from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for International Mental Health.

 

Speaking at a forum on suicide prevention Monday, Colucci said that more people should be educated on the issue so that they can contribute to the decrease in suicide cases.

 

“Creating opportunities for the public to learn the basic suicide actions and how to implement them when needed is an important step towards more effective suicide prevention strategies,” she said.

 

However, Colucci also advised caution and noted that public efforts to facilitate suicide prevention must always be supervised by mental health professionals.

 

For instance, she said that social media practitioners who host online crisis centers for suicidal people should remember that their efforts, however earnest, could easily exacerbate the problem if not overseen by a trained professional.

 

“Having some kind of social media website, blogs for example, where people can just write whatever and nobody is kind of checking or regulating it in some way can be dangerous, especially if it’s about suicide,” she told GMA News Online.

 

She stressed the importance of linking back to experts who have been trained to address suicidal thoughts or issues, and getting some basic suicide first aid training as well.

 

“Think about resources, if you have resources posted in the blog, people can easily be linked to other resources where they can actually get help or speak about the issue with other people who are trained,” she said.

 

She also noted that it is important, when writing or reporting about suicide cases, to not write in detail about the method that was used.

 

“Giving too much information about the method can be dangerous…there are a lot of studies showing the potential dangers and damage about reporting too much in details about it,” she explained.

 

Suicide first aid

 

According to Colucci, people who are close to a suicidal person may notice warning signs, but few are equipped to recognize the risk and actually help prevent it. She also said that first aid training, which is commonly offered to the public, forgets to include the aspect of mental health.

 

At the forum, Colucci presented suicide first aid guidelines written by her and fellow professors from the University of Melbourne, as well as Dr. Dinah Nadera, psychiatrist and associate professor at the University of the Philippine Open University. The guidelines were developed through consultations with a panel of mental health experts.

 

The guidelines, which can be downloaded for free online, include a list of warning signs that may reveal a person’s suicidal tendencies.

 

Some of these warning signs include a dramatic change in mood, behavior or appearance; verba; or written threats of killing oneself; engaging in life-threatening behavior; and speaking or contacting people they have not spoken to in a long time to say goodbye or ask forgiveness.

 

Colucci also pointed out that “just because something is not a warning sign doesn’t mean it is never a warning sign.”

 

“Suicide is always a complexity of factors. It’s always important to think that it’s never one reason. There are some situations, some possible issues that might put some people more at risk for suicide,” she said.

 

According to the guidelines, upon recognizing the warning signs, one can keep a suicidal person safe by never leaving him or her alone and keeping means of suicide out of a person’s reach.

 

The guidelines also said that while a person with suicidal intentions must be involved in deciding who to tell about their suicidal thoughts, it is still important to inform someone—whether the person’s immediate family or a mental health professional—about his or her suicidal intentions, especially if that person is underage.

 

Among the resources that are available for depressed or suicidal people is the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation (NGF), a non-profit organization that focuses on raising awareness about depression and how it can be treated.

 

NGF recently opened an Information and Crisis Intervention Center hotline to help depressed or suicidal people. Those who need help can call 804 HOPE (4673), 0917-558 HOPE (4673), or 211 4550. — KG, GMA News