WHAT IS SUICIDE?

• Suicide is a form of
deviance. It is so because
most people do not do it
because of religious and
cultural taboos. The study
of suicide also contains in
a nutshell the essence of
sociological theories and
methods.
 DURKHEIM’S CONCEPT ON
SUICIDE
• Durkheim established that:
• Suicide rates are higher in men than women.
• Suicide rates are higher for singles than
married.
• Suicide rates are higher for people without
children than people with children.
• Suicide rates are higher among Protestants
than Catholics and Jews.
• Suicide rates are higher among soldiers than
civilians.
• Suicide rates are higher in times of peace than
in times of war.
• Suicide rates are higher in Scandinavian
countries.
• Higher the education level, the more likely it
was that an individual would commit suicide,
however Durkheim established that there is
more correlation between an individual's
religion and suicide rate than an individual's
education level; Jewish people were generally
highly educated but had a low suicide rate.
TYPES OF SUICIDES
Types of suicides by
Durkheim:

• Egoistic Suicide
• Altruistic Suicide
• Anomic Suicide
• Fatalistic Suicide
REASONS OF SUICIDE IN
PAKISTAN

• Poverty and Inflation

• Unemployment
• Lack of education
• Frustration
• Depression
• Uncertainty
• Lack of parental support.
• Loosening of cultural
norms.
 SUICIDE STATISTICS IN
PAKISTAN
• 0.43/100,000 in Peshawar,
2.86/100,000 for Rawalpindi,
Karachi, 2.1/100,000, Lahore,
1.08/100,000, Faisalabad,
1.12/100,000 and Larkana,
2.6/100,000.
• Most suicides occur in young
people.
• Suicide rates are higher in
men than women.
WAYS ADOPTED FOR SUICIDE
IN PAKISTAN
• Suicide bombings
• Poisoning
• Hanging
• Firearms
• Drowning
• Self-Immolation
• Jumping
• Use of medicines (in
minority).
• Ingestion of insecticides.
 EFFECTS OF SUICIDE
• Conflicting emotions
• Extreme depression
• Insomnia
• Lowered self esteem
• Undeserving guilt and
despair
• Resentment
• Confusion
• Suicide surviviors may
retry suicide.
WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT SUICIDES IN PAKISTAN?
 ROLE OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA
Suicides increase by:
• Specific ways of
reporting and
portrayal of suicides.
• Internet allowing the
forging of
communities
interested in suicide.
• Glamorizing suicide in
ways which incites
suicidal behavior.
ROLE OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Suicide can decrease by:

• Educating people
• Avoid glorifying suicide.
• Include information on
where to go for help.
• Don’t report descriptions
of suicide methods.
• Avoid repetition and the
word “suicide” in news.
• Avoid dramatic visuals.
• Take particular care when
reporting celebrity
suicides.
CONTROLLING SUICIDE IN
PAKISTAN
• Mental health professionals
and government should
cooperate.
• Suicide prevention programs
should be integrated.
• Training emergency room
personnel.
• Review the law regarding
suicide in Pakistan.
• Suicide prevention telephone
hotlines.
• Increase spending on mental
health.
 CONTROLLING SUICIDE IN
PAKISTAN
• Initiating school based interventions.
• Suicide prevention interventions should be pre-
emptive rather than reactive.
• Implementing strategies that restrict the act to
lethal ways of suicide.
• Media can educate public about suicide
prevention.
• Suicide stories can inform readers about
symptoms, warnings and treatments for suicide.
"Suicide may also be regarded as an
experiment -- a question which man puts
to Nature, trying to force her to answer.
The question is this: What change will
death produce in a man's existence and
in his insight into the nature of things? It
is a clumsy experiment to make; for it
involves the destruction of the very
consciousness which puts the question
and awaits the answer."
Arthur Schopenhauer