What to talk about when you talk about Pratyusha Banerjee's suicide
The death of Pratyusha Banerjee has left many of us wondering what could have caused a young woman - who was on the verge of making it in the entertainment industry - to commit suicide. There have been several theories speculating as to what drove her to attempt suicide.
It is but natural that the human mind seeks to find ways to understand a shocking and tragic event by attributing reasons to it; sometimes, we "see" things in retrospect and imagine them to be the cause.
However, suicide is a mental health issue; and the cause is almost never a single life event.
A person may decide to commit suicide due to a combination of several factors: their temperament, their situation, their family and relationships or finances. Whatever the circumstances, suicide is a complex phenomenon. There is no single reason for this decision; often, a single situation may act as a trigger, but is never the single cause.
"More often than not, there is no single reason for the suicide. Research has shown that there are some people who have a pre-existing vulnerability due to their personality, temperament and their environment. But it is almost always a cumulative set of events that leads them to arrive at this outcome," says Dr Senthil Kumar Reddi, assistant professor of psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore.
"Whatever be the reasons that led her to commit suicide, the tragedy is that she couldn't find another way to seek help, and that there were no resources she could turn to," says Dr Sabina Rao, consultant psychiatrist, Sakra World Hospital, Bangalore.
A person who attempts suicide does so because they are in pain; they feel helpless and their attempt is a desperate cry for help.
Studies have shown that the number of completed suicides in a society is merely the tip of the iceberg.
"Studies reveal that for every person who dies from suicide, at least ten to fifteen have attempted suicide, while a hundred have thought about it," explains Dr G Gururaj, head of the department of epidemiology, NIMHANS, Bangalore, in an article for White Swan Foundation.
As a society, we seldom talk about mental illness and so these thoughts and ideations go unnoticed.
"For every case like this, there are so many others who are suffering and may be on the brink of suicide. We need to be less judgmental and more supportive so that these people can reach out when they feel overwhelmed. It's important that they know that suicide is not the only option," says Dr Rao.
If you have thoughts of suicide, please reach out. Call the iCall helpline on: 022-25563291
(White Swan Foundation for Mental Health is a Bangalore based not-for-profit that creates and disseminates information and awareness on mental health.)