COVID 19 pandemic: What if children face behavioral risks and suicidal tendencies

The coronavirus pandemic is not just a medical phenomenon. There has been elevation on suicidal behavior across the world, quarantine and isolation have put the population to raise the level of loneliness, depression, domestic abuse, child abuse as well.

Mental illness is generally associated with the heavy stigma around the world by which it has always remained a silent variable in past to present years. From the prejudices to the sense of shame, depression and bad mental health have always been ignored as a serious issue. When people suffer from any physical illness (common cold, fever, arthritis, etc.), they quickly seek medical attention without any shame or hesitation but when it comes to mental health problems, most of the people tend to avoid the diagnosis so that they aren't labeled as "psycho", "crazy", or "nuts". Most terrible of all is that the stigma is an unacceptable addition to their pain and prevents these people who carry such a heavy burden from seeking help when they need it.

Stigmatization of mental illness set hurdles to access help, treatment, and care which often leads to suicidal behavior. Suicide, the deliberate taking of one's own life, is a terrible reaction to stressful life situations. People who willingly take their lives are sufferers of mass seclusion, personal incompetencies, and their inability to fit into with the dominant others. Like most public health problems, suicide is preventable. People with suicidal thoughts show warning signs of their distress. Parents, peers, and teachers can play an impressive role to pick up these signs and provide assistance to save a life. Society, parents, peers, educational system are the immediate environment and they require to join hands for the holistic well-being of children.

Suicide is a terrible reaction to stressful life situations. According to WHO, it is estimated that suicide accounts for over 8 lakh deaths per year, which equates to one suicide every 40 seconds. Suicide ranks among the top 20 leading causes of death globally for people of all ages (International Association for Suicide Prevention 2019). Researches have also found that suicide is the second most common cause of death among people aged between 15-29 years. It is a serious problem but preventable.

Every year millions of people commit suicide but unfortunately, this is perceived as cowardice act but they have distinctive voices and exclusive insight. Suicide is not only the problem of a few countries. Around 79% of world suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries where the majority of the world's population is based. Global organizations are drawing attention to this issue. In line with the UN's sustainable goals of reducing the suicide rate by one third by 2030, the 2013-2020 action plan also focused on the global target of decreasing suicide rate by 10 percent.

COVID 19 and suicides

The outbreak of COVID 19 has forced the global population under lockdown. Indeed, it is a tough time for humanity. Everyone seems to be anxious, worried, and distressed. The crisis has questioned the mental health and psyche of all, especially the vulnerable ones. Managing stress and psychological being is the need of the hour. It is giving a considerable degree of fear, worry, and concern in the population at large. At the current time, there is no precise estimation about how long COVID-19 will continue. The coronavirus pandemic is not just a medical phenomenon. There has been elevation on suicidal behavior across the world, quarantine and isolation have put the population to raise the level of loneliness, depression, domestic abuse, child abuse as well. It has disrupted people's life. Corona scare has driven many people to end their lives. Many cases have been reported around the world. A 36-year-old Bangladeshi man committed suicide because he thought he was infected with Covid-19, as he had a fever and cold symptoms. The reason behind suicide was the discrimination he faced by other villagers and no diagnosis was done. In another incident, a young man committed suicide by hanging himself in Binaur village in Sachendi police circle in Kanpur due to fear of Covid-19. Almost seven suicide cases were reported during the first 100 hours of the lockdown in Kerala alone. A 30-year old migrant worker from Assam allegedly committed suicide after tested positive for COVID19. Now it's time to concentrate on those things which are under human control. Faith and fear, both are invisible and in this dilemma, one should try to choose faith.

Risk factors for suicidal behavior

Risk factors are characteristics that make it more likely that individuals will consider, attempt, or die by suicide. Risk factors can also be used to identify and target populations who are at higher risk for suicide. Suicidal risk factors are broadly categorized into personal and social factors. Personal factors include high "neuroticism" personality trait, locus of control, low self-esteem, lack of decision-making ability, failure in an exam, bad mental health, etc., whereas, social factors include bad family environment, the influence of peers, school pressure, low socio-economic conditions, etc. Working on risk factors subsequently will decrease suicidal rates. For example, depression is a significant risk factor for suicide, therefore, lessening the number of individuals with depression might result in decreasing suicide. Suicidal thoughts have a strong association with symptoms of anxiety/depression, pain/tension, and overweight. The other risk factors include a family history of suicide, psychiatric disorders, chronic illness, substance abuse, hopelessness, trauma, impulsive tendencies, loss (financial, death of close ones), unemployment, easy access to lethal methods and the most important, the world facing presently, the stigma of COVID 19.

Suicidal behavior indicators

People with suicidal behavior generally give warning signs of their distress. For instance, it could be in direct form like "I am going to kill myself" or it could be in indirect form like "I hope I could fall asleep and never wake up again". Social network and their online post can also relate to their mood which includes a change in behavior, thoughts, and appearance. Talking about being a burden to others, mood swings, or talking about seeking revenge. Other signs include hopelessness, anger, anxiety, engaging in risky activities, increased usage of alcohol and drugs, acting reckless, sleeping less or sleeping more, withdrawal from the social circle. Although, in many cases, warning signs are nowhere to be found. People who seem cheerful, happy go around, end up going down the colossal road of depression. The person might seem to be totally in pink of his health but his/ her mind behaves otherwise.

Identifying and managing suicidal symptoms

"S/he might be depressed not just feeling down. Might be your kid is thinking about killing himself if it happens more than you think, more than you should and people close to the person who commits suicide usually say we had no idea and they thought it was just a phase he was going through, he would have come to me, I wish he had said something when it is too late." These signs should not be ignored. It is vital to pick up these signs and parents, teachers, and peers can lend a helping hand. They need somebody to listen to, someone who can provide them with empathy, compassion, and one who should not make any discriminatory judgment. Though social interaction with peers is the need of every human being, growing children are experiencing sudden isolation for the first time in their life for such a long time. This generation has always boated of self-centered ideas such as 'I have all the rights to live life as I want to'. Therefore, sudden curtailment to all their rights by COVID 19 needs an emotional treatment by parents. If you think a child is acting differently such as sudden anger, misbehavior with siblings, or elderly members of the family, you need to be alert and handle the situation carefully.

Manisha Dhami is a Ph.D. Scholar with the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. She is the awardee of ICAR-JRF-2016 and ICAR-SRF-2018.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)