Tangra, Behala, Kasba: Experts focus on breaking the chain
Times of India | 5 March 2025
Kolkata: The difference in psychological resilience differentiated every individual from the other, with most striving to overcome their crises and only a few choosing to take extreme steps, like suicide, said mental health experts.
The discussion followed three incidents of suicide pact in the past two weeks in Tangra, Behala and Kasba, all of them involving children. While the families belonged to different social and financial backgrounds, the common thread was the crisis they faced. But, mental health experts said, there were many others in society who, too, faced extreme crises though not all chose to end their lives or enter a suicide pact.
"The mental make-up of individuals differs vastly from one another though they could be in similar situations, like a financial or a personal crisis. How one views the crisis and the person's psychological resilience plays a big role in not taking a drastic step, like a suicide pact. That is why not everyone in deep crisis ends up taking such extreme steps," said Srishti Saha, a clinical psychologist at Fortis Hospital.
Experts said suicide pacts were usually planned ahead and were not an impulsive act. They said the family must have been in crisis for some time, leading to one or more adults in the family developing mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety or certain personality disorders. "Lots of people in society go through some kind of crisis that can lead them to develop mental health issues that remain undiagnosed for a long period of time. Also, reports of such incidents could influence a few who are going through a similar crisis to think that a suicide pact can be the easiest way out," said Sanjay Garg, director of mental health and behavioural sciences at Fortis Hospital Anandapur.
Such families were mostly closely knit, and the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness was compounded by the fact that they mostly have been living in social isolation or withdrawn themselves, experts added.
"There is something, called learned helplessness, which is inherent to humans, who like to believe that they have been pushed to the brink. But some people try to manoeuvre their way out of the situation and a few just give up, driving them to such extreme measures," said Sabyasachi Mitra, psychiatrist at CK Birla Hospital.
Experts said talking about their problems and seeking suggestions to come out of the situation could help. About children being included in the three suicide pacts recently reported in the city, Mitra said, "Children either cannot grasp the plan and its consequences or are forced to accept parental decisions for such misadventures."
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