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Lest He Should Kill Himself |
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-- P.O.George |
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Lest
He Should Kill Himself is a collection of the important papers the author, a social worker, intimately
associated Maithri from its inception, has prepared on the topic of suicide
prevention in the context of Kerala. It is also the result of rather extensive
reading, well-planned field investigations, and the persistent searches
undertaken to find answers to practical problems in everyday life leading to
emotional distress.
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Needless to say, a bagful of negative emotions resulting from
bad experiences makes life difficult for ordinary human beings. Unless helped in
time, such persons would progress towards disaster. The mission of this book is
to help the person himself, his family, and the immediate neighbourhood to take
concrete measures lest he should kill himself. |
The author has tried to share
with the readers his understanding of issues of relevance and the insights
gained. It is hoped that this presentation will help |
people realize the gravity
of the problem of suicide in the state and resolve to work towards concrete
measures to reverse the upward climb of the suicide graph. To that extent the
objective of this book is to facilitate suicide prevention programmes at
different levels. |
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The target readership of the book is the interested common man. A variety of
groups like students, researchers, social scientists, health professionals,
religious leaders, planners and others are sure to find in it, clues to many
problems, which are of practical relevance. More importantly, the volunteers
involved in suicide prevention activities, are sure find their thoughts and
concerns reflected in this book.
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The readers will soon discover that the author has a slant in favour of the
distressed. The slant is borne out of the conviction that suicide is an
eminently avoidable tragedy and the vast majority of suicides result from
others’ unwillingness to help fellow beings in need. In fact, every
self-inflicted death is to be seen as a result of the cry of the distressed
being unheeded by their near and dear ones. In this context, the mission of this
book is to be seen as one promoting the value of sensitivity towards the
feelings of distressed persons and being responsive to their pleas. The focus is
to help create an environment, which is supportive and caring. |
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The author urges the readers not to misconstrue the title of the book – ‘Lest He
Should Kill Himself’- as indicative of a bias against women. He assures everyone
that he has no such bias and the book can as well be titled ‘Lest She Should
Kill Herself’. This book is meant to be of help to the emotionally distressed
and those who are concerned about them. For, emotional distress knows no gender,
caste, creed, or religion. Every human being goes through bouts of distress of
varying intensity. Persons enjoying the care and support of the other
members of the family, community and friends are in a better position to
effectively deal with them. Timely and compassionate interventions will surely
help resolution of distress and avoid tragedies like suicide. |
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The book has been presented in 10 short chapters, which fall into three broad
sections - Understanding suicide, Preventing suicide, and
Initiatives for preventing suicide. The first four chapters attempt to provide the readers with a fair
understanding of the phenomenon of suicide in general, and the Kerala scenario
in particular. The next four chapters fall within the broad section of
preventing suicide. Creating opportunities for ventilating emotional distress at
the individual, family and neighbourhood levels have been addressed here. The
last two chapters have been devoted to familiarizing the readership with two
initiatives for suicide prevention undertaken in Kerala. |
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The Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Rajagiri P.O., Kalamassery, Kerala,
India PIN: 683104 has published and distributed Lest He Should Kill Himself. It
has been priced at Rs. 100/- The book, can be purchased from Maithri Kochi, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, and
selected book stalls in Kerala. |
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About the author: P.O.George is a social development consultant operating
from Thrissur. He has been the Secretary of Maithri Foundation Trust from
its formative days. He can be contacted on Telephone No. +0487 2370295, E-mail – po_george@hotmail.com |
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