Alarmed by the rise in suicides, mental health experts in Nigeria have warned that criminalising suicide attempts has blocked prevention efforts and created a blind spot for data collection, making it difficult to understand the scope of the problem as well as develop effective solutions.

The Psychiatrists who spoke weekend also called for the amendment of laws both at the national and state levels criminalising both successful and attempted suicides in the country.

Speaking during the maiden virtual meeting of Nigeria Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group, the Immediate Past President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria, APN, Professor Taiwo Lateef Shiekh modified the definition of suicide from intentional self-inflicted death to a ‘compulsive urge for one to kill self’, noted that people who end their own lives do not want to die.

“This may sound paradoxical, but that is the truth. But they feel there is no other option to relieve them of their pain. They want to exit their pain. They want to end the pain, they want to end the suffering,  and sometimes they believe it will also end the pains of their caregivers or close relatives, especially when they believe that they have become a burden on them.”

Shiekh said the most obvious barrier known besides cultural and religious barriers and stigma, is the barrier of criminalising attempted suicide, which has roped into the country’s culture and also increased the stigma towards those who attempt to take their own lives.

Noting that globally, one in 100 deaths in the world is due to suicide and about 700,000 people die annually due to suicide, he said for each of these cases, there are about 25 many more attempted but unsuccessful and each suicide death affects at least five family members and leaves approximately 135 other people exposed to suicide.

He regretted that suicide has reached a crisis point in Nigeria, unfortunately, the availability and quality of data collected for suicide and attempted suicide leaves a lot to be desired.

“There may be gross underreporting of these cases and current statistics notwithstanding, in fact, we don’t have statistics in Nigeria because of this law that criminalised suicide, people are not coming out, deaths are not reported as suicide death because the family would be investigated.”

He argued that suicide is related to multiple intricate and intersecting social cultural and economic factors and challenges, which include denial of basic human rights, lack of access to resources, discrimination, stressful life events such as job loss, pressure from work or school, breakups in relationships, unmet aspiration of youth, forced and economic migration.

He said research indicates that mental health conditions and alcohol substance use disorders are associated with increased risk of suicide.

Shiekh said it has been reported that 90 per cent of suicide deaths are related to mental health conditions and substance use disorders while over 70 per cent of such suicide-related deaths due to mental health conditions are attributable to depressive disorders.

“Often people who are considering suicide are dealing with a combination of mental health conditions and difficult life events. They will manifest symptoms such as very low mood, negative thinking, severe anxiety, low self-esteem, and psychosis, which can lead to social thoughts. So, when you see this in people, you should know that something is happening and something may happen.”

Giving reasons why Nigeria should decriminalise suicide, he said: “Nigeria is among 22 or more countries in the world where suicide remains a crime. This law is a colonial law. We inherited it from our colonial masters. They have gone back to their countries and changed their laws into some more compassionate approach to dealing with suicide, which we were known for before this law came to our whole country.”

He explained that the law attempts to stop the acts of suicide, but it does not stop the thoughts and it doesn’t address the social determinants of suicide.

“Suicide doesn’t just drop like that. It starts with thinking. But the law doesn’t go to your brain and stop the thoughts. The law does not recognise that suicide is a preventable condition, that we can have an intervention that will prevent it from happening and very importantly, the law is a barrier to help-seeking from people who have the problem because they cannot come out. It’s also a barrier to support people who have the problem because you are afraid that if you try anything and you don’t tell the police, you will stand the risk of going to jail for one month. The law is a barrier to data generation.”

He said the aim of the working group was to develop a comprehensive strategy for suicide prevention and identify barriers to suicide prevention in Nigeria.

Erudite lawyer, MT Mohammed who spoke on the status of suicide law in Nigeria, said for Nigeria to have a paradigm shift in suicide prevention, there was a need to amend the laws criminalising suicide at the state level.

He recalled that before the coming of the British, Suicide and its position had already been known in Nigeria, and under both – Islamic law and customary law as a criminal offence.

“But generally speaking, suicide too is not allowed or welcomed.”

He said there must be concerted efforts to change the laws as applicable in each state of the federation.

He argued that more impact would be made if state laws were amended because when somebody is going to be tried for attempted suicide or even suicide, is going to be tried under the state laws and state court.

“If the state laws are not changed, changing of the national law by the National Assembly will have little impact. For us to have a paradigm shift, a substantial shift from what we have now is needed.”

Speaking, the Executive Director of the Centre for Health, Ethics, Law, and Development, Professor Cheluchi Onyemelukwe, said the way to go is to repeal those provisions, the criminal and penal code provisions and to enforce the National Mental Health Act and the state mental health laws in place.

On his part, a consultant to ECOWAS, Abdulmalik Jibril, stressed the need for early identification and intervention.

“What is that intervention? Get them to see a mental health professional without wasting time. The second strategy by WHO that is recommended is to eliminate or reduce access to means.”

He regretted that in Nigeria, it was access to pesticides, and snipers, among others is common.

He stressed the need for stringent conditions to reduce access to such means, adding that, if the access to lethal means of taking people’s life is not accessible, the numbers will drop.

“Responsible reporting of suicide, not glamorising it, not sensationalising it, keeping the identity private, would help prevent a phenomenon called copycat syndrome.”

He stressed the need to raise more awareness as information is power and ignorance is very expensive. “Of course, decriminalising it is also a very critical component but community awareness, public sensitisation is very important.”

He said people should be nice to the person next to them, family members, and their children. “Be nice to colleagues at work, pay compliments. Don’t always denigrate people and make them feel terrible all the time,” he added.

Source: Vanguard