One suicide every 40 seconds

Humankind is one of the few species to commit suicide. UNESCO’s statistics paint a depressing scenario of a species which cannot provide for the happiness of its own kind.

Mankind is a strange species, having the ability to transgress the frontiers which limit any other living organism on the planet but at the same time possessing an unfathomable ability to produce imperfections in the societies it creates.

UNESCO’s report “Suicide: Human relations in question” is currently being debated in Paris. It has been revealed that in the year 2,000, there was an average of one suicide every 40 seconds, a total of nearly 800,000 people, an alarming statistic by any standards. It was revealed that there are 160,000 attempted suicides in France every year, 10,500 of whom actually commit the act.

The peak age for suicide is between 35 and 44 years of age, mainly among the active population and due to stresses in their professional lives which make them lose their personal references.

An excess of stress, or a prolonged period of it, can cause a state of psychological weakness, the psyche becoming so fragile that it begins to believe that the individual is what is wrong, not society, and the only redemption is through suicide.

Loss of a job is stated to be one of the main causes, especially when there is little hope of finding a new one and when the financial commitments are heavy.

It has been suggested that an adequate medical follow-up of cases of sudden unemployment would greatly reduce the risk of suicide, often committed on impulse.

Suicide is the second highest reason for death among 15-to 24-year olds, after roadway accidents and it is the main cause of death for the 25- to 34-year-olds.

It would seem that if people spent more time speaking to each other, instead of being wrapped in cloaks of silence, almost tangible in modern city life, such pent-up frustrations and desperation would find a natural release.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru