Video | What Has Led to Suicides During the COVID-19 Lockdown?

What impact has the COVID-19 lockdown had on India’s suicide rate?

“More than half of the people who die of suicide in our country don’t have a diagnosable mental illness.”

(Photo: FIT)

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Dr Soumitra Pathare, a consultant psychiatrist and Director of Centre for Mental Health, Law and Policy at ILS“More than half of the people who die of suicide in our country don’t have a diagnosable mental illness.”

During the COVID-19 lockdown, there are reports pointing to an increase in alleged suicides.

Is this a case of zealous over-reporting or is there something more going on? Suicide is complex, with many different factors contributing to it. We talk to Dr Pathare, a consultant psychiatrist and Director of Centre for Mental Health, Law and Policy at ILS and someone who helped draft India’s new mental health law, to find out more.

He tells us that in the lockdown they have to trust the data from the journalists, and has been following English dailies which have reported 164 stories talking about around 140 suicides and about 24 attempted suicides.

Dr Soumitra Pathare“The reports are saying that in the first week it was due to alcohol withdrawal. In the second and third and fourth week of the lockdown, it shifted and the reasons being recorded where that people were afraid of getting COVID-19, or they felt they had already got COVID-19 or they were being ostracised by their families and neighbours for having COVID-19 when they didn’t have it. And then in the last week or ten days, we are beginning to see stories of suicide where the reasons are the lack of food or money or employment, worries about employment.”

Also Read: COVID-19 Lockdown: Signs Your Mental Health Needs Some TLC