Suicide rate shoots up in Bangalore

Bangalore: Every day police stations across the city record at least two cases of suicide.

A year after Bangalore was titled the suicide capital of the country, statistics have revealed that suicide rate is up by 80 per cent.

Statistics from the national and city crime records bureau suggest that more than half of these cases come under the young-adult segment. While nearly 30 per cent of the cases are among BPO/call centre professionals, more than 45 per cent cases are in the IT industry.

About 17 per cent of the cases come under lower income groups. While there has been a fall in the number of suicide cases among students, suicides of women in the age group between 16 and 29 have increased.

"A few years ago, suicide was common among people in the middle age, who ended lives after prolonged depression spanning for at least five to ten years. Repeated failure and lack of ambition leads to suicide. Now, however, when we study cases of suicides among the young groups, we see that minor triggers and small emotional tumult leads them to take the extreme step," said Dr Jairaj Kesari, a city-based psychologist.

Behavioural psychologists opine that the cause of increase in such cases has to be blamed on immediate mounting pressures, impractical lifestyles and lack of instant gratification, both personal and professional.

"For a BPO employee, while money does flow in smooth, they have to dedicate most part of the day to earn it. Further, since the culture revolves around youngsters, there is physical gratification and hence emotional swings. When it comes to women, the cases have risen as many battle various social stigmas and when they fail, they develop suicidal thoughts," explained Dr Giridhar Sharma, a behavioural psychiatrist.

Counselling

On an average, around 80-100 callers seek counselling through suicide helplines every day.

"Either friends and relatives of people with suicidal tendencies call us, or we get cases of students and adolescents discussing their failures in life.

Often, they are just looking for a simple direction and someone to listen to their worries and provide them with solutions. Others who experience chronic suicidal thoughts are advised to visit a clinical psychologists," said a volunteer from a suicide helpline.

While there were 2,167 suicides in the city in 2009, 1,778 suicides were recorded in 2010. The number shot up dramatically in 2011, getting Bangalore the tag of the suicide capital.

This year, in six months, cops have recorded a minimum of two cases everyday. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Bangalore is followed closely by Chennai (1,325), Delhi (1,242) and Mumbai (1,192).