Privation forces police to detain suicidal individuals
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday September 14, 2018 13:53
Speaking at the World Suicide Prevention Day commemoration hosted by Botswana Network for Mental Health in collaboration with Gaborone University College of Law in Gaborone recently, Mopako said the option was not conducive at all since it worsened the condition of the suicidal individual.
He added that in the meantime, as police officers, they would continue doing what they can until facilities are built for such individuals.
He explained that 800,000 people a year in the world die as a result of suicide, which makes it the second cause of death among people aged between 15 and 30 years of age.
He further pointed out that that the age group was the one with highest risk of committing suicide saying that the latest statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2017 show that deaths resulting in suicide in Botswana reached 220 or 1.5 percent of total deaths.
He said it rated up to 12.22% per 100,000 of population. “Botswana is ranked number 57 the whole world by WHO. Method of suicide varies between countries and is partly related to the availability of effective means.
Common methods of suicide include hanging that is common in Botswana, pesticide poisoning, firearms and others.
Factors that affect the risk of suicide include mental disorders (dominating), which is often present at the time with estimates ranging from 27% to more than 90% drug misuse, psychological state, family and social situations just to mention a few,” he said.
Mopako added that suicidal thoughts were common saying that many people experience them when they are undergoing stress or experiencing depression. He said most people who experience suicidal ideation do not carry it through although some may make suicide attempts.
He pointed out suicidal symptoms such as feeling or appearing to feel trapped or hopeless, feeling intolerable emotional pain, having mood swings, talking about revenge, guilt or shame, isolation, severe remorse and self-criticism and talking about suicide or dying.
Mopako also explained that socio-economic problems such as unemployment, poverty and discrimination might trigger suicidal thoughts.
However, he pointed out that there were suicide prevention measures that could be used to reduce and/or curb suicide such as reducing access to certain methods such as fire arms or toxins, treatment of drug and alcohol addiction, prevention of childhood trauma such as sexual abuse and others, psychotherapy, medications such as antidepressants, increased awareness, giving people hope for a better life after current problems are solved and reducing the prevalence of conditions believed to constitute risk factors for suicide.
For her part, Motamma Sesinyi-Horatius highlighted that suicide was a preventable cause of premature death influenced by psychological, cultural and environmental risk factors that could be prevented through responses that address the main risk factors.
She therefore called on insurance cover plans to consider recommended preventative services including behavioural assessment and depression screening. She also urged government health facilities to have trained mental providers in every health facility so that suicide acts could be addressed and prevented well in time.
Kagiso Montle, a bipolar outpatient on medication and psychotherapy said mental illness was not given the attention it deserved locally. He pointed out that with many mental disorders that affect the youth of this country, it’s a cause for alarm to stand up and advocate for that matter.
“My full potential was encapsulated by MDD that suffocated my intellectual ability thus malnourishing my zeal to exert my effort to reach greater heights and be what I wanted to be.
My reality conflicted with my future expectations and I got knocked out of the game of life after living a hellish life.
Sabrana gave me a second chance to be a better man and a transformation to my people as I freely show them that you can still make it out of the pit of suicide,” he said.