by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
“Trinidad and Tobago has the third highest suicide rate in the English-speaking Caribbean after Guyana and Suriname.” Dr Roshan Parasram, Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health – Tuesday, March 7, 2017)
It is estimated that up to 200 persons a year commit suicide in T&T. Dr Parasram made the above statement at a recent Media Sensitisation Workshop on Responsible and Ethical Media Reporting on Suicide and Self-Harm at the Hilton Trinidad.
As reported in the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian on March 9, he said “data showed that in T&T the number of males who died by suicide is approximately five times more than the number of females. Research suggests that while males are more likely to complete suicide, females are more likely to attempt suicide…in the last ten years the highest number of suicides was in the 25 to 34 age group.
“Theodore-Gandi and Parasram estimated that 800,000 people die annually as a result of suicide globally…Parasram pointed out that 75 per cent of suicides occurred in low/middle income countries and it is ranked as the second most common cause of death among young people worldwide…Psychiatrist and Head, Clinical Medical Sciences, UWI, Professor Gerard Hutchison said while more suicides were recorded in central and south Trinidad, more homicides were recorded in north Trinidad. Hutchinson said most people who engage in this type of behaviour don’t want to die, but simply wanted help to address parental and relationship conflict…he reinforced that suicide is preventable; restricted access to means of suicide can save lives; health-care services should include suicide treatment; and communities can play a greater role in suicide prevention.”
GA Hutchinson and DT Simeon state in a 1997 study entitled: Suicide in Trinidad and Tobago: associations with measures of social distress: “There were significant positive associations between male suicide and serious crimes as well as with male and female unemployment…Although it is not possible to determine whether the observed associations were causal, the results suggest that social distress may be an important contributor to the suicide rate in Trinidad and Tobago, particularly among men.”
Up to 200 persons a year commit suicide in T&T
Given the current level of social distress in T&T, it is essential that all people of goodwill reach out to those in need to seek to prevent suicide.
Do you know the teaching of our Church on this issue? I remember shortly after US actor Robin Williams committed suicide, I read an article by Aaron Kheriaty, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and human behaviour at the University of California-Irvine School of Medicine, and co-author with Msgr John Cihak of The Catholic Guide to Depression.
In it he reminded readers that the Catholic Church has “a morally clear but pastorally sensitive teaching on suicide” (see Sections 2280 – 2283 of our Catechism).
As he rightly states: “The Church teaches that suicide is a sin against love of God, love of oneself and love of neighbour. On the other hand, the Church also recognises that an individual’s moral culpability for the act of suicide can be diminished by mental illness, as described in the Catechism: ‘Grave psychological disturbances, anguish or grave fear of hardship, suffering or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide…We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.”
Each life is a gift from God. The Church sees suicide as a contravention of the fifth commandment. St Pope John Paul II said: “The Church’s tradition has always rejected it as a gravely evil choice. Even though a certain psychological, cultural and social conditioning may induce a person to carry out an action which so radically contradicts the innate inclination to life, thus lessening or removing subjective responsibility, suicide, when viewed objectively, is a gravely immoral act.”
We are all messengers of non-violence and hope. Let us not judge people but assist our neighbour to choose life, recognising the risk factors that may lead to suicide e.g. loss of jobs/ homes, and being in debt.
During these 40 days of non-violence in T&T, let us strive to set up ministries in our parishes to befriend/minister to those who may have suicidal thoughts/are suicidal/have attempted suicide/self-harm because they are in deep despair and depression, or find loneliness unbearable, or feel empty/hopeless and that life is not worth living, or can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, or feel their world collapsing around them – for whatever reason. Reach out also to families who remain devastated by the fact that their loved ones have committed suicide.
Where there is despair, Lord, let us bring hope and healing. Make us an instrument of your peace, dear Lord.
