DOH-7 continues efforts vs suicide

CEBU, Philippines - Now considered the third leading cause of death worldwide, health officials in Central Visayas continue their efforts in a bid to prevent more suicide cases in the region.

Emmalyn Fernandez, nurse-mental health coordinator of the Department of Health-7, said they will be launching next month the Hopeline Caravan, which will serve as a “line of hope” among those who have suicidal thoughts and tendencies.

“Ang usa ka tawo nga naa’y suicidal thoughts or tendencies needs attention and someone to talk to where they can ventilate their frustrations and other negative feelings that made them think about suicide. Hopeline will give them the support and will listen to them,” said Hernandez in yesterday’s Kapihan sa PIA.

“Pero og severe na ang case, we will refer them to a psychiatrist for further treatment,” she added.

Dr. Robert Cañete, medical specialist of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, said they consider any person who thinks of committing suicide as serious case, even if it is just meant to be a joke.

“Bisan joke pa na ang ilang pagsulti, we will treat it as a serious matter. For all you know, this person is suffering from depression or already psychotic,” he said.

Citing the statistics of VSMMC from the second quarter of 2011 to second quarter of 2014, Cañete said majority of those who committed suicide were single men aged 21 to 30 years.

Data showed most suicide cases happened due to financial and relationship problems, Cañete said.

Dr. Josie Ann Danes, medical officer of DOH-7, said that worldwide, an estimated 875,000 persons commits suicide per year. Suicide, she said, is now considered as the third leading cause of death.

“To prevent suicide, talk your problem with someone you trust,” Danes said.

Danes added that they continued training teachers in Central Visayas to detect students who have “red flags” for suicide.

“Children stay in school most of the time. That’s why we trained teachers to observe if their students are suffering from depression and other behavioral problems, as these may lead to suicide,” she said.

Cañete also noted an increasing trend of drug-induced psychosis, saying majority of their cases involve those affected with this mental disorder.

Cañete also emphasized that not all of those who are sad will later suffer depression.

“It is normal to be sad. But if that sadness persists more than two weeks, that is already a depression, wherein a person no longer functions normally. Di na ganahan motrabaho, magsige na lang og katulog,” he said.

Danes further advised anyone to never leave someone suicidal on their own, to remove all the means of suicide, inform the immediate family, call for professional help and continue to communicate and listen to the person.

Moreover, Cañete said media should not glorify suicide cases by putting it on the front page.

“There is such thing as a copycat suicide. People with suicidal thoughts may think that it is glamorous to commit suicide kay ma-front page man ka,” he said. — (FREEMAN)