Coimbatore in urgent need of Suicide Helpline

7-May-2014

COIMBATORE : The recent suicide of a 17-year-old girl in Tirupur fearing her exam results, brings to the fore the urgent need for a suicide helpline in the city. With the class 12 results to be announced on May 9th, helplines in other cites are getting anywhere between 20 and 30 calls a day pertaining to anxiety over results.

For example Sneha, a counselling helpline, that specialises in preventing suicides, in Chennai gets double their usual number of calls between May 1 to 30 of which 50% to 60% are result oriented calls. “We get at least 40 to 60 calls in the month of May,” says Dr Lakshmi Vijaykumar, founder Sneha.

In the absence of such helplines, students who turn to their friends or parents at their most anxious moments are lucky to be taken to a counsellor. Counsellors say anxiety levels of students usually peak two to three days before results are announced. “They suddenly begin worrying about their results. They need to be reassured that even if they do fail, it is not the end of the world. They could take the exam again held immediately which will allow them to apply for college without wasting a year,” says counselor G P Godhanavalli.

“It is important that a person suffering from anxiety or depression has a phone number they can dial just to talk about their worries. Such assistance can help prevent suicides,” says Gohhanavalli.
Counsellors say suicides are usually impulsive decisions, and there needs to be someone to discourage them at that impulsive moment. Once they change their mind, they never even think of suicide again. “Even if they have been contemplating suicide for a few days, the decision to act on it is usually a spur of the moment thing,” says Dr Vijaykumar. “We get calls from people just before they do something rash or even after they do something like consume poison or sleeping pills,” she says.

Due to the absence of a helpline, many counsellors join as many networks and organisations as possible to spread the word about their availability. “I give my number to all schools, colleges and police stations that I visit,” she says. “I also give it to Childline so they can offer it when they get calls from teenagers. I sometimes even give advertisements in newspapers with my mobile number inviting students to call for help or counselling,” adds Godhanavalli.

This becomes even more crucial because many parents and friends tend to dismiss anxiety symptoms in their children as ‘common’ and do not take them to a counsellor. “They realise the seriousness and resort to a counselling session only after the anxiety presents itself as a physical symptom like constant headaches or abdomen pain. Only after the general physician diagnoses it as stress do they come to a counsellor,” says psychiatrist Dr B Ravishankar. “More than just introducing a helpline, it’s important to spread awareness on its existence,” he says.

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