Summoned by the dead: Deputy County Commissioner in-charge of Tetu,
Nyeri County Harman Shambi (Front R) and area Administration Police
Commander Wilfred Chacha (Front L) carry the casket bearing the remains
of the late John King'ori who hanged himself at Huhoini village in Nyeri
County. The two administrators were forced to reschedule their plans
after a suicide note indicated that they must attend the funeral of
their deceased friend on October 21, 2013. PHOTO|JOSEPH KANYI
NATION
Last week, an acquaintance of mine on
social media committed suicide. I had never met him, but he would
occasionally comment on my posts and carry on very “normal” online
conversations.
By all appearances he was a successful
professional. He had been married for a couple of years and, at the time
of his death, he had a one-and-a-half-year-old son. All this
information could be gleaned from his Facebook profile.
I
learned of his death one morning when I noticed many messages
mentioning his name and following this up with the initials RIP. One of
his friends posted: “Why did you have to do this? Was there no other
way?” My curiosity was aroused and, on scrolling through his page, I
came upon a post in which a close friend of his indicated that he had
committed suicide.
That same week, a colleague called
me to discuss a mutual patient. Some time in the past he had referred
the young man to me for treatment of his mental illness with frequent
suicide attempts. We had achieved a measure of success in his management
but, after some time, he stopped coming for follow-up.
My
colleague was calling to inform me that the young man had also
committed suicide. He had seemed well in recent months, and was even
enrolled in university pursuing a prestigious course. One day he simply
did not leave his room, and when his colleagues went to check on him,
they had to break down the door to get in. They found him lying lifeless
in bed, having taken a lethal concoction.
I have gone
to great lengths to modify the identifying information in these stories
in order to protect the privacy of the grieving families, but they do
represent an epidemic that is happening all around us. Suicide is
emerging as a leading cause of death among young Kenyans in their most
productive years, rivalling well-known killers such as road crashes,
Aids and other chronic diseases.
Traditionally, suicide
was frowned upon in most societies, and some had even developed very
elaborate funeral rituals for those that died by suicide. In some
communities in western Kenya, for instance, a person who died by suicide
would be buried by strangers at night without any honours.
There
would be no proper mourning or memorial ceremonies and his name would
be erased from the community narrative. No child would be named after
him. Similar rituals exist in most communities.
The
upshot of this is to make suicide appear as a personal choice, a
manifestation of weakness or evil on the part of the attempter, and a
reason for punishment rather than assistance. The result is that those
that unsuccessfully attempt suicide are ridiculed and ostracised, often
being urged to find other ways of dealing with their problems.
The
unfortunate truth is that suicide is often a manifestation of serious
psychological or social problems, and the attempter has reached a
determination that these problems are so intractable that the only
solution lies in killing themselves. Such a person needs help rather
than condemnation.
I believe it is time the government declares suicide a national disaster and unveils measures to address this growing problem.
Dr Atwoli is a consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer at Moi University’s School of Medicine. lukoye@gmail.com
No comments :
Post a Comment