The Last Choice???

There are so many times when I give up on life and feel it ending it all by taking my life. During those times, I feel life is not worth living and I also think the people around me do not care about me at all. I know I am not the only one who goes through these occasional change in mood. It is human to feel distressed sometimes or feel that people do not love us the way they ought to. But how do we handle these feelings when they come up? Is it always a better choice to end one’s own life? In this era when we are always thinking about terrorism, global violence, and murder, we often forget the fact that worldwide more people are killing themselves than those who die in all wars, terrorist acts and interpersonal violence put together. many others who did not succeed in ending their lives ended up with serious health issues.

According to GhanaWeb, in 2012, an average of five out of every ten (10) people die every day in Ghana and it was revealed that within that year, more men committed suicide than women. One thousand, one hundred and twenty nine (1, 129) men took

their lives as against four hundred and twenty seven  (427) women. In recent times in Ghana however, the issue of SUICIDE has become very common especially among girls who are in school. Ironically, committing suicide or attempting to commit suicide is a criminal offense in Ghana.

A few weeks ago, we heard about the lady from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) who committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope, earlier this week, we heard about the lady from University of Ghana (UG) who also committed suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of a storey building. The sad part of it is the

sixteen (16) year old basic school girl who also hanged herself to death in Tafo! In all these, nobody is able to point clearly to what actually pushed these girls to do what they did and why they made suicide their last choice! Women seem to go through a lot and that put them at a risk of committing suicide more than their male counterparts. For example, a girl who is pregnant and does not have anyone to stand by her may end her life for fear of what society will do to her.

A lot of reported suicide cases were committed by hanging, there are also instance where some people drank poison, jumped from a height, stabbed her or him self using a knife or by shooting one’s self with a gun. While some people may be committing suicide because of what someone did to them, I think that a lot more people are lonelier

than we see them. This is so because social media is excluding people and making them feel lonely. there is no opportunity for people to share what is worrying them with others. Many counselors and counseling centers have become  extortion points where counselors judge people instead of helping them to fit back into society. As a result, a lot of people walking around are suffering from depression and other mental health related problems.

Apart from that, poverty can also be a reason why someone will think of committing suicide or commit suicide. Here is the case you cannot access the thing you have to because you do not have the resource to do it.For most people, they better die than be living in very deplorable conditions, to them, they feel death is a better choice over their condition of life. People may also take their own lives when relationships turn sour. Many people invest so much time, resources and energy into their relationships with others that they can’t stand to see those relationships break apart. When things do not work the way they expect them to, they feel their world must come to an end.

Study has found out that before someone commits, he or she withdraws from people, becomes isolated, always talking or thinking about death, deep sadness, loss of interest in things they use to care about, they may have trouble sleeping and eating which can get worse with time, making comments about being hopeless, useless, helpless, or worthless, sudden, unexpected switch from being very sad to being very calm or

appearing to be happy, putting affairs in order such as changing a will (for elderly people), talking about killing one’s self, and on very rare occasions, calling or visiting people to say goodbye. The Chief Psychiatrist at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Akwasi Osei, said 93-95% of all suicides and attempted suicides are from mental disorders, with over 80% of the lot from depression. (www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/…/Five-Ghanaians-commit-suicide-daily-2396…)

In this regard, we have to be each other’s keeper. Family and friends should be more supportive especially when one begins to withdraw from people especially if the person has ever attempted suicide in the past.

I have a strong feeling that the way and manner in which information is fast spreading on social media is also one of the reasons why suicide is on the rise lately in this country. Someone has taken his or her own life, it is in the media for a few days, what

next? When people are aware that this is what is trending, some may try to also do it because that is the order of the day. It is very few people who have actually made efforts to educate people about suicide. All we hear in the news is someone has committed suicide, someone has committed this… what are we doing as individuals to curb this situation? Let us try to be there for one another as much as we can. What is the point if we cannot have time to listen to our neighbours but can make time to prepare and attend their funerals?

Our media houses should please make conscious efforts to educate the public about how we can overcome whatever is worrying us than to just tell me what has happened.

Again, individuals should also watch over one another, support and help each other when we can because the consequences of a little denial of love and support can be more catastrophic than we can imagine. Keep an eye on me, I keep an eye and you and together, let us fight against SUICIDE! Together we can. CHEERS!!!