According to a research conducted by the National Human rights commission India, it was found out that the Kashmir Valley witnesses 20,000 suicide attempts during the 14 years of socio- political discord. 3,000 of them died and most of them were in 16- 25 age group. The report further mentioned that, 575 cases of attempt of suicide have been admitted to the SMHS hospital alone in the entire state.  

According to World Health Organization (WHO) Suicide claims over 800,000 lives every year, that’s one person every 40 seconds. Suicide rates have drastically increased over the years making it one of the top tenth cause for deaths in the world. 

Severe depression and anxiety can lead to suicide, depression is a believed to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain but science yet have many questions to answer about depression and it’s causes neurologically. 

The first ever podcast on suicide in Kashmir by Islam way of success aims to focus on creating awareness around depression and suicide and its rise in today’s time.

“We all should work on how to tackle with depression and suicide by spreading awareness via seminars, social events, counselling programs, social media and apart from these tools scholars of religion and novelists can also contribute towards educating the masses,” said the team of Islam Way of Success.

Prof. Zahoor Ahmed Shah Al Madni was invited in the podcast to discuss the rising issue of suicide in the region. “We have people who think good about us and people who wish bad for us, it’s crucial that we identify the people who are good for us and people who are toxic so that we can create a better and a more positive support system around us,” said Prof. Zahoor in the podcast. 

An American Phycologist Edwin S described suicide as a psychache, an acute state of intense psychological pain associated with feelings of guilt, anguish, fear, panic, angst, loneliness, and helplessness. Edwin S. Shneidman, an American Phycologist mentioned in his book, “Suicide occurs when the psychache is deemed by that person to be unbearable. This means that suicide also has to do with different individual thresholds for enduring psychological pain”, (Shneidman, 1985, 1992).

“But its very nature, psychological pain is tied to psychological needs. In general, the broadest purpose of most human activity is to satisfy psychological needs. Suicide relates to psychological needs in that suicide is a specific way to stop the unbearable psychological needs,” (Shneidman, 1985, 1992).

Furthermore, Suicide is not as simple as usually people think it is, psychologists today claim that they don’t know yet the exact reasons behind depression and how it leads to suicide. With social media many definitions of what depression is to different people can be leant but scientifically the world doesn’t know what depression is exactly. “Depression is a terrible thing, and many things cause it, and we understand some of them but lots of them we don’t understand,” said Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist. 

The research also shows depression as an Autoimmune disease, up to 50% of patients with autoimmune diseases show an impairment of health- related quality of life and exhibit depression- like symptoms. This not only leads to inflammation in organs but also triggers behavior abnormalities including fatigue and depression- like symptoms. 

“We know that depression could be an inflammatory disease it might be associated with autoimmune dysfunction, there’s lots of reasons people get depressed and depressed people can go to places which are so dark you just can’t imagine it,” Peterson added. 

“More focus needs to be diverted on the issue and how we can prevent it. All we can do is be a responsible citizen and work towards creating awareness and start a conversation around this ever-rising issue in our communities,” said the team of Islam way of success. 

If you or anyone you know are facing mental health issues and suicidal thoughts- Please find help here https://findahelpline.com/i/iasp . This link will assist you to find various mental health resources and helplines in any country.