When a suicide occurs in a family, there are 6 close people who could also take their own life, because the loss of a loved one causes suicidal thoughts that can be consummated if specialized attention is not sought, he warned Alejandro Aguila Tejeda, CEO of the Hispanoamerican Institute of Suicidology (INHISAC).
In interview with excelsioradded that post-vention, that is, the intervention of a specialist who helps to solve the problems related to suicidal grief, is decisive in avoiding another fatal outcome.
“When there is a suicide, around the person who took their own life there are six people at risk. Our job as suicidologists when we receive the family for post-vention is to identify the members of the family who are most at risk.
“In most cases we see mothers in great pain, suffering, a lot of crying, an inability to process suicidal thoughts that prevail, which must be talked about and must be prevented,” he explained.
Alejandro Águila clarified that it is not a hereditary condition, but external factors that predispose people to try to take their own life, such as, for example, depression or a chained duel that was not resolved.
“Neuroscience studies that have advanced a lot indicate that there is no inherited genetic condition, that is, nothing indicates that if the grandfather, father, aunt, uncle or mother have committed suicide, they will inherit a suicide gene.
“What we did find in most cases is that 75% to 80% had depression and in many of these cases, 50% had a family member with a depressive situation that had not been attended to, unresolved, translates into a predisposing factor for suicide,” he said.
BLACK FIGURE OF SUICIDES IN MEXICO
Within the framework of the World Day for the Prevention of Suicide that is commemorated on September 10, the general director of INHISAC, explained that deaths by suicide have not been reduced in our country because, although the INEGI recorded 8 thousand 237 suicides during 2022 , there is a dark number of cases not registered in the death certificates.
He added that 50% more deaths should be added to the official figures, with which suicides could unofficially rise to 12,000 each year.
“I estimate 50% more cases of suicide and this due to the number of consultations and care that have increased. In addition, there are deaths that are not recorded as suicides on the death certificates.
“And to the above, we must add the situation of the penitentiary centers, where when there is a death it is not fully registered because in all the prisons there are suicides, but there is no faithful record of these cases,” explained the suicidologist Alejandro Águila.
According to the latest INEGI report, during 2022, 8,237 people committed suicide. 81.4% were men and 18.6% women.
85% of people who took their own lives used hanging, strangulation or suffocation. Another method used -although to a lesser extent- was poisoning by exposure to harmful substances.
The states with the highest suicide rates were: Yucatán, Chihuahua and Nayarit. The entities that presented the lowest rates were: Baja California, Guerrero and Mexico City.
Given this panorama, as every year, the “International Marathon for World Suicide Prevention Day” will be carried out free of charge.
It will be held on Sunday, September 10, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., through the social networks of the Hispano-American Institute of Suicidology, whose presentations will be recorded so that the general public can have access to information on the prevention and identification of warning signs of suicide. suicide.
SUICIDES ARE CONCENTRATED IN THE POPULATION AGED 15 TO 34 YEARS OLD
For every completed suicide, there are at least 20 people who attempted it revealed to excelsior, Juan Manuel Quijada Gaytantitle of National Commission on Mental Health and Addictions (Conasama).
He reiterated that before 2011, the highest suicide rate was in older adults, but from that year to date, it is young people and people of productive age who try or succeed in taking their own lives.
However, the suicide rate in Mexico is 6.4 per hundred thousand inhabitants, which, Quijada Gaytán said, is well below the world average.
During 2022, 24.4% of suicides were concentrated in the population between 15 and 24 years of age. And 27.6% in people between 25 and 34 years old, according to INEGI figures.
The reasons, explained the head of Conasama, are access to social networks, poor tolerance for frustration, and the consumption of addictive substances such as alcohol, since up to 80% of those who committed suicide were drunk.
“Now you can find out about the methods to commit suicide, either through social networks or through access to the Internet, and this makes it possible to find out the most lethal methods, and there are even places where instructions are even given. step by step for people to take their lives.
“Bullying is another of the factors that is immersed in this, and of course the consumption of substances, and when I refer to substances I want to be very clear that it is mainly alcohol,” explained the head of the Conasama.
In view of the foregoing, he pointed out that, in the 32 entities of the country, the National Suicide Prevention Program was established -unique in the region of the Americas- with the objective of teaching the population to detect warning signs and avoid a greater number of deaths.
“Suicidal behavior is an urgent event. The life line is something that helps us a lot by dialing 800 911 2000, a tool that can be used from home.
“We also have community brigades, emotional support groups and within the health system we have something called code 100, which is a protocol for immediate detection and care in general hospitals to prevent suicidal behavior and avoid death” , detailed Quijada Gaytán.
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