Suicides in Kerala

Kerala is one of the very suicide-prone states in India. The suicide-rate of Kerala is about three times the national average and has been so for many years now. The malaise has gripped both towns and villages alike. More and more persons - the adolescents, young, middle-aged, and aged - find life increasingly miserable. Frequently, they opt to stop the killing pain by taking their own lives.

The suicide scenario in Kerala is serious and warrants sympathetic attention from all concerned.

This web-page briefly describes the following aspects of suicides and suicide prevention in Kerala:

    See Kerala Suicide Statistics for statistical information on suicides in Kerala

See our Resources page for articles on related topics.

Read More:

• Kerala's suicide statistics 

• "Analysis of Kerala Suicide Statistics" , article by P.O. George, Social Scientist. (Download Article in PDF format)

• "Suicide among Women in Kerala", article by P.O. George, Social Scientist (Download in article in PDF format)

• "Family Murder Suicides in Kerala" article by Dr. C J John, Psychiatrist and Founder Director of Maithri. (Download the article in PDF Format)

Risk Factors for high suicide proneness in Kerala:

Reasons for the abnormally high suicide-proneness of Kerala Society has not been conclusively established. The following aspects are thought to be forcing more and more individuals to consider suicide.

• Social Changes: Weakening protective value of social institutions like family, poor or absent communications, increased divorce rates

• Deterioration in indices of social progress:  Unemployment, High crime rates, alcohol consumption, violence against women and children

• Life styles: Consumerism and spending beyond resources pushing people into debt burdens.

• Mental Disorders: Particularly, depression untreated or under-treated.

• Negative interactions from society towards suicidal individuals - painful, unpleasant, isolating and rejecting.

• A generation growing up with low frustration tolerance, problems in education system, parenting attitudes.

Impact of suicidal deaths on Kerala's Society

The impact of this many suicidal deaths on the fabric of Kerala's society is multi-fold. Statistics reveals that majority of  persons who resort to giving up their lives do so at their most productive age. The survivors of unsuccessful suicide attempts continue to bear the brunt of social stigmas. They limp on with deeply etched mental, physical and social scars. The dependants of those who died by suicide - the children, the newly married, the pregnant, the aged - find that the lights of their lives have gone out. In turn, will they too take clues from the gory examples set in their families?

Societal attitudes go a long way in providing the healing touch to a family traumatised by the suicide of a dear one. When suicide occurs,  the family looks for support from several quarters - the hospital, police,  media, neighbors and relatives - every one has a role to play in helping the family return to normal ways of living. 

Read more:

  "Postmortem of the Living"  article by Dr. C J John, Psychiatrist and Founder Director of Maithri, that describes the harrowing experiences of a mother who lost her daughter to suicide. (Download article in PDF format)

 "Comfort to Suicide Stricken Families: Can the Media Help?" article by Dr. C J John, Psychiatrist and Founder Director of Maithri. The article addresses the effects of media coverage on suicides and summarises experts' recommendations on how to achieve "responsible reporting" of suicides. (Download article in PDF format)

Specific action for suicide prevention in Kerala:

What can be done? Social and economic conditions not withstanding, many things can be done to address an individual's suicide proneness. Awareness among everyone is important. Suicide has to be looked upon as a cry for help.  It has to cease to be a taboo subject. Stigmas associated with mental health have to be removed. A person or family in despair cannot be objects of ridicule. The society must hear them, their pain must be acknowledged - the attitudes must be to help lessen their pain. Opportunities to release pent up emotions should be available. 

Specific action for Suicide-Prevention:

• Sustained efforts to create awareness about suicide. 

• Develop community action to offer support to suicidal individuals.

• Continuing education for health care personnel to identify and treat depression related mental illnesses.

• Life skill education for students - incorporating approaches to offer and seek crisis support.

• Training for police, social workers, media-persons, teachers and officials holding public offices to deal with people in distress.

Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar has developed the guidelines named  "The Manual for Primary Health Care Personnel", for suicide prevention activities among the public.

"Suicide Prevention is Everybody's business"

 Society's response to the suicidal has for some time been thought to fall wholly within the domain of the medical profession: doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists. Over the recent years, it has been recognised that every person in society can perform a constructive role in preventing suicides. Peoples' initiatives to prevent suicides, such as those of Maithri, organize lay persons to offer emotional support to the distressed individual. However, suicide prevention must be seen to begin from a still basic level in which every element of society takes part. For further reading: Lest he should kill himself" , article by P.O. George, Social Scientist. He has written a book with the same title which contain articles on the suicide in Kerala. Summarised below are the responses required from various segments in this task.

Wish to react? Have opinions about organising suicide-prevention in Kerala ? 

Send your views to Maithri Kochi

| Kerala Suicide Statistics | India Suicide Statistics |