Baguio suicide cases alarming

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – I was scrawling my cellphone last week when I saw an FB post of a young lady standing at the edge of the Y-shaped overpass along Magsaysay Road here. She spread her arms, moved backwards and made her body fall down the road.
    A police report said the victim was a Grade 10 student, native of Bakun. Benguet and residing in nearby Ambiong, La Trinidad, Benguet.
    She was rushed to the Baguio General Hospital where she fought for her life but died a few days later.
    The report said she apparently committed suicide. A few days later, another FB post said another student staying in a college dorm here also tried to commit suicide but survived.       
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Following these, local health and mental health experts in a press briefing bared suicide cases in the city were alarming. They attributed these to increase in mental health issues among adolescents mainly due to exposure to social media and aggravating factors.
     Ricky Ducas, Jr., mental health program coordinator of the City health Services office, said suicide cases increased during the Covid-19 pandemic due to mental health issues triggered by enforced lockdowns that forced them to be isolated in their homes.
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CHSO data revealed 19 suicide cases reported in 2019 before increasing to 30 cases in 2020 or during implementation of community quarantine restrictions.
    Suicide cases increased to 37 in 2021 before slightly dropping to 33 last year.
    This 2023, Ducas reported six suicide cases, three males and three females, compared to 12 suicide cases first quarter of 2022.
    The mental health program coordinator said figures were based on family members and relatives that processed death certificates of their loved ones who allegedly committed suicide.
    Age range of suicide victims was15 to 29 years old or mostly adolescent period as the same was the stage of transition from childhood to adulthood.
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Exposure of people to social media, Ducas said, was one of primary triggering factors of suicide cases documented in the city as the same could either make or break emotions due to posts in various platforms.
He advised parents to be observant of their children’s behavior to prevent attempts to commit suicide.
    Ducas said parents had a great role in the way they think, feel and act in addressing such situations like being able to immediately seek advice from experts to prevent incidents.
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Worldwide data showed more than 700,000 suicide incidents recorded in countries worldwide with most traced to mental issues.
    According to experts, mental issues were prevalent among females while males were prone to commit suicide.
    A report from the Press Information Office if City Hall said concerned government agencies and the local government were now assessing solutions to prevent increase in suicide cases in the city and ensure mental health issues being encountered by the youth and adults.
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Meanwhile, Dr. Mary Sito, Medical officer IV of the Cordillera office of the Dept. of Education, disclosed symptoms for potential suicide victims could be classified as cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral where either one or two of the same must be present in an individual to make him a potential suicide case.
    Cognitive symptoms of potential suicide victims included inability to concentrate, poor judgement, seeing only the negative and constant worrying.
    Sito added emotional symptoms included general unhappiness or depression, irritability or mood changes, loneliness or isolation.
    Behavioral symptoms were eating more or eating less, sleeping more or sleeping less and withdrawing from others.
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Dr. Rufina Calub-Abul, head of Nursing Department of Nursing of St. Louis University, meanwhile said common stressor of suicide was intolerable psychological pain or psych ache. Common cause of the same was frustrated psychological need which affects cognition of potential suicide victims leading to eventual commission of the suicide as it is the only remedy they could find to ease the pain.
    Around 80 percent of suicide victims, Abul added, actually communicate the act so is important is for people to listen to them on what their problems were.
    Other symptoms of potential suicide victims are  giving away of their valuables such as jewelry, loss of appetite for previously enjoyed activities, always sleeping, being suddenly happy or sometimes the opposite, thus, the need for people to be sensitive about said indicators.
    Dr. Ducas, Jr., added other symptoms of potential suicide victims was involvement in risky behavior such as extreme sports and sexual activities.
    In schools, Sito said warning signs for suicidal tendencies include habitual absences of the students in their classes and sleeping too much.
    These, he said, must be given attention not only by their parents and guardians but also their teachers and school officials. Be forewarned, experts said.