Despite more help, suicide rate for young has not fallen

Section: Home

By: ARTI MULCHAND

Publication: The Straits Times 09/03/2006

Page: H3

No. of words: 731

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Experts worry that rate has not changed much for those under 20, with a rise between 1998 and 2000 

MORE groups are in place to counsel troubled youngsters, but the suicide rate among those under 20 is not falling, and this is concerning psychologists.

Of the 1,723 people who killed themselves between 2000 and 2004, 88, or 5 per cent, were aged 20 and under. 

The suicide rate has not changed much since 1995, when fewer help groups - such as counsellors in schools and in neighbourhood civic groups - existed. In fact, the 1998 to 2000 period saw a rise in suicide rates among males and females aged under 20. 

Dr Alex Su, head of emergency services at the Institute of Mental Health, said this trend is 'worrying'.

He said: These are young, healthy people. They should not want to die. And they can get help, yet they choose to kill themselves. We need to look at how to build their resilience, and find protective factors, instead of waiting for things to happen.' 

He added that although a network of counseling and support services for troubled youths is already in place in the schools and neighbourhoods, 'in reality, there are still youths who fall through the cracks. There may be new factors, areas that can be addressed better, like how they handle stress or breakups'. 

He said Singapore needs a more coordinated national plan to bring down suicide rates. 

Many other countries already have these. In Britain, for example, the national plan sets a time frame for bringing down the rate to a particular level; it also outlines specific roles that agencies handling potential victims should play. 

Citing an example of a teen who overdoses on drugs but survives, he explained that with roles spelt out, the hospital would be the teen's first stop so that his injuries can be treated. After this, he is passed on to an in-house psychiatrist. 

If the teen is still considered at a moderately high risk of making another attempt on his life, the Institute of Mental Health gets on board. Down the line, the relevant ministries and family service centres will track the case.

Dr Su said that in Singapore, these protocols have not been formalised.

So why do the young choose to end it all? 

Psychologist Chia Boon Hock, who has been studying Singapore's suicide figures between 2000 and 2004, says 'life events' such as getting into relationships or doing badly at school are frequently factors.

Failed relationships were why 56.8 per cent of the under 20s killed themselves in that five-year period. Another 25 per cent did so because of problems with studies; 9 per cent had money troubles. 

Legal problems plagued 4.5 per cent, and job-related problems, another 1.1 per cent. 

But he qualified that very often, a complex of reasons rather than one single one pushes a suicide over the edge.

Another trend he has noted: More young suicides are leaving behind suicide notes nowadays. 

Among suicides aged between 10 and 24 from 2000 to 2004, a good 46.5 per cent left notes. Back between 1969 and 1976, only 23 per cent of young suicides in this same age group did so. 

Dr Su said these notes are getting longer and more expressive, because 'people are getting more literate and more anxious to express what they were going through'. 

'Young people want others to understand why they are doing the things they do, to justify their actions to family and friends ... The elderly are less emotional about their decision to kill themselves.'

One other trend that shows the sign of the times: suicide notes being sent via SMS. 

Dr Chia counted 16 SMS suicide notes in 2004 - 13 of them in English, three in Chinese. 

Back in 2001, there were just seven. In all, 45 suicides between 2001 and 2004 chose SMS as a way to say goodbye, mostly to a parent or a partner.

'Almost everyone has a phone and can SMS, so it's now the way people talk,' said Dr Chia, who expects this number to go up.

Suicides by the young will be one key area up for discussion at the 2nd Asia Pacific Suicide Prevention Conference to be held this weekend. 

arti@sph.com.sg