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Jakarta Post

‘Ignorant society’ triggers suicides

Priska was alone and lonely when she decided to cut herself in an attempted suicide some years ago

Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, February 15, 2019

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‘Ignorant society’ triggers suicides

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riska was alone and lonely when she decided to cut herself in an attempted suicide some years ago. She was depressed after the death of her mother and a growing academic burden only exacerbated her mental health condition.

“I am an only child. My father is a quiet and reserved person. So I didn’t feel like I got the emotional support that I needed at the time,” the 26-year-old said, recalling the days when she was at the lowest point in her life when she was a student at the University of Indonesia.

Only after Priska displayed the symptoms of severe depression did her father look for help from a mental health professional. She had also shown behavioral signs of depression such as losing interest in activities once pleasurable and shutting herself off from the world by not going outside of her room for days.

“[Emotional] support from those closest to me is extremely important and makes people with depression feel that they are not alone in this cruel world,” Priska said.

A psychologist at trauma counseling foundation Yayasan Pulih, Gisella Pratiwi, said some people tended to associate suicidal thoughts and depression with the stigma of “having weak faith”. Often times, these people also underestimated others’ feelings of depression and ignored it — which is an inappropriate thing to do.

“People with depression feel actual suffering and all they need is to be heard and understood,” Gisella said. “Give them a chance to pour out their feelings. Try to be a good listener.”

People with depression show a wide range of symptoms including endless feelings of sadness, emptiness or hopelessness; lack of energy; sleep disturbances including insomnia or sleeping too much; as well as changes in appetite and weight.

Before reaching the extreme thought of ending one’s life, both the depressed and people around them should do something to help. Help can come from small talk with close ones and also from professionals.

Indonesia has seen a rising number of suicides in recent years, based on World Health Organization data. In 2018, the suicide rate in the country stood at 3.4 per 100,000 people — or 8,840 people. The number increased slightly from three per 100,000 people in 2017 — or 7,800 people.

Gisella further said the increasing flow of information in the digital era could also contribute to the rising number of suicides, in addition to an increasingly ignorant society.

If news on suicides — especially of public figures — is not wisely presented to the public, it will trigger others to do similar things. Therefore, she urged media outlets to report carefully by not explicitly describing suicide.

“Put more educational information in the news,” she suggested.

Data from the Health Ministry shows that the majority of people with depression in Indonesia do not receive proper medical treatment, as only 9 percent of the depressed consult healthcare professionals and take medicine. The 2018 Basic Health Research revealed that 6.1 percent of Indonesians aged 15 and above, or 11.8 million people, suffer from depression.        

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