SUICIDE

In the past year or so, I have been receiving news of death. Many of these deaths have been as a result of suicide. My friend Waithera wrote something that has made me think about suicide in a different light. Do you feel angry and hurt when someone takes away their own life? Do you get confused and wonder why they did it? Take a look at what Waithera has to say...

Suicide in Kenya

The word suicide comes from the Latin words sui meaning ‘of oneself’ and caedere meaning ‘kill. According to Oxford dictionaries, suicide is the action of killing oneself intentionally.

To ancient Egyptians suicide was not seen as a taboo or a violation of spiritual or legal codes, it was simply seen as a way to die when one faced with unbearable suffering, be it physical or emotional. (crouchfoundation.org/history-of-suicide.html)

This has changed over recent years as many see suicide as an escape from life, from reality. According to a Buddhist Physician, Alex Lickerman, M.D., there are six (6) reasons as to why people attempt suicide. These are

a) They are depressed: this is the most common reason why people commit suicide. Depression may always be followed by a sense of suffering as well as the belief that escape from it is hopeless.

 b) They are psychotic: Malevolent inner voices often command self-destruction for unintelligible reasons. Psychosis is much harder to mask than depression, and is arguably even more tragic.

c) They are impulsive. Often related to drugs and alcohol, some people become maudlin and impulsively attempt to end their own lives. Once sobered and calmed, these people usually feel emphatically ashamed.

d) They're crying out for help, and don't know how else to get it. These people don't usually want to die but do want to alert those around them that something is seriously wrong.

e) They have a philosophical desire to die. The decision to commit suicide for some is based on a reasoned decision, often motivated by the presence of a painful terminal illness from which little to no hope of reprieve exists.

f) They have made a mistake. This is a recent, tragic phenomenon in which typically young people flirt with oxygen deprivation for the high it brings and simply go too far. The only defense against this, it seems to me, is education.

(This is an extract from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201004/the-six-reasons-people-attempt-suicide

Posted by Reflections of a Buddhist Physician

by Alex Lickerman, M.D.)

In Kenya suicides have increased immensely over the past two years. These suicides have been seen mainly amongst students.

According to The Kenya Penal Code, Chapter XXI, article 226 states that “Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanour.”

This means that is a crime.

After research and searching for any kind of documentation stating on the number of suicides reported/committed in Kenya, the only proof that this has been documented in some form is through media: newspapers, radio and television recordings, and blogs. With no actual statistics to go by, more people continue to commit suicide and more stones are left unturned.

My belief is that if a system was created to record these statistics and the reason behind each of them and centres created to deal with these particular issues, we would save a lot more people.

To the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones through acts of suicide, I pray for peace and comfort. I pray that you stand up and fight for them, let their stories be heard, let their memories live on.

Related sites:

http://blog.jaluo.com/?p=25203 by FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201004/the-six-reasons-people-attempt-suicide by Alex Lickerman, M.D.