:A TRAGIC incident where a teenager in Sarawak allegedly committed suicide after an online poll favoured her death showed how serious depression is and the low awareness about mental health development in the country.
It also showed the massive influence and impact of
social media on youth.
Agencies must develop an alert system that can help Netizens raise the red flag to notify people of suicidal postings.
In the latest incident, it was five hours from the time of her suicidal posting to her suicidal act and there was no alert system in place for an intervention.
For young people, mental immaturity may cause them to be easily influenced by online content, including games.
Those who have emotional problems are more vulnerable, and it is important to identify and help them in the early stage.
The age of adolescence is a critical period, and parental love and education are needed to guide children in dealing with life challenges.
In the May 13 incident, the 16-year-old teen was found dead, believed to have fallen from the third floor of a shoplot in Padawan, Sarawak.
Her suicide was allegedly caused by emotional and family problems. She was believed to have jumped to her death after 69 per cent of her Instagram friends supported her decision to kill herself via a voting poll, which was uploaded at 3pm. The teen reportedly posted the headline “‘Really Important, Help Me Choose D/L (die or live)” on the voting poll.
I believe that more awareness campaigns on mental health, including against stigmatisation of those with mental illness, must be organised.
The government must train more counsellors and psychologists to help those suffering from depression and other mental problems.
Police statistics showed that there were more than 500 cases of people committing suicide or attempting suicide every year in the past four years.
A total of 1,696 people committed suicide, while 625 failed to end their lives between 2014 and February last year. Of the fatal cases, 1,282 were male, and 414 were female. Reasons cited included stress, money, family and relationship problems, as well as studies.
More people, especially youths, have contacted Befrienders KL to share their problems. It received 5,217 emails and 26,927 calls in 2017, compared with 3,443 emails and 24,821 calls in 2016.
Relationship issues were cited as one of the main reasons for their problems, followed by studies or financial problems (19.3 per cent) and mental health (18.3 per cent).
The National Health and Morbidity Survey 2017 on mental health among youths revealed that one of five adolescents feels depressed; two of five feel anxious; 11.2 per cent have suicidal ideation and 10.1 per cent had attempted suicide.
There must be a holistic public health approach by the government that takes into consideration cross-sectoral collaboration and training of non-governmental organisations to address social determinants and psycho-social factors contributing to poor mental health.
The Health, Education and Youth and Sports ministries must collaborate to help address mental health issues among children, adolescents and youth.
We have to take immediate action to tackle this problem since the World Health Organisation has estimated that by 2020, the rate of death will increase to one every 20 seconds.
TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE
Patron, Malaysia Phychiatric Association