Suicide

Every year, 703 000 people take their own lives and there are many more who attempt suicide. Actually, every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind^(a). Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. Over 77% of global suicides, for example, occurred in low and middle-income countries in 2019. However, they may be preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions^(b). For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.

While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression, alcohol use disorders and a previous suicide attempt) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-ups or chronic pain and illnesses.

Suicide prevention efforts require familiarity with these aspects, as well as coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. Thus, these efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide^(c).

Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) launched in 2008. This programme provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Besides, the suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, its aim is to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, by 2030, promoting mental health and well-being.^(d)

Adapted from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide Accessed 5 February 2022.

Suicide

Every year, 703 000 people take their own lives and there are many more who attempt suicide. Actually, every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. Over 77% of global suicides, for example, occurred in low and middle-income countries in 2019. However, they may be preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.

While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression, alcohol use disorders and a previous suicide attempt) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-ups or chronic pain and illnesses.

Suicide prevention efforts require familiarity with these aspects, as well as coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. Thus, these efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide.

Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) launched in 2008. This programme provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Besides, the suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, its aim is to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, by 2030, promoting mental health and well-being.

Adapted from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide Accessed 5 February 2022.

Suicide

Every year, 703 000 people take their own lives and there are many more who attempt suicide. Actually, every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. Over 77% of global suicides, for example, occurred in low and middle-income countries in 2019. However, they may be preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.

While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression, alcohol use disorders and a previous suicide attempt) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-ups or chronic pain and illnesses.

Suicide prevention efforts require familiarity with these aspects, as well as coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. Thus, these efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide.

Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) launched in 2008. This programme provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Besides, the suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, its aim is to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, by 2030, promoting mental health and well-being.

Adapted from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide Accessed 5 February 2022.

Suicide

Every year, 703 000 people take their own lives and there are many more who attempt suicide. Actually, every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. Over 77% of global suicides, for example, occurred in low and middle-income countries in 2019. However, they may be preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.

While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression, alcohol use disorders and a previous suicide attempt) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-ups or chronic pain and illnesses.

Suicide prevention efforts require familiarity with these aspects, as well as coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. Thus, these efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide.

Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) launched in 2008. This programme provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Besides, the suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, its aim is to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, by 2030, promoting mental health and well-being.

Adapted from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide Accessed 5 February 2022.

Read text III to answer question.

TEXT III

On Children – Kalil Gibran

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,

Speak to us of Children.

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from^B) you,

And though they are with you and yet they belong not to

you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you

cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may^D) strive to be like them, but seek not make them like

you.

For^A) life goes not backward nor tarries with^C) yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows

are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and

He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the

bow that is stable.

From The Prophet (Knopf, 1923). This poem is in Public Domain. Avalible on http:poets.org/poem/children-1. Accessed on June 10^th, 2024.

Read text III to answer question.

TEXT III

On Children – Kalil Gibran

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,

Speak to us of Children.

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you and yet they belong not to

you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you

cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not make them like

you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows

are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and

He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the

bow that is stable.

From The Prophet (Knopf, 1923). This poem is in Public Domain. Avalible on http:poets.org/poem/children-1. Accessed on June 10^th, 2024.

Read text III to answer question.

TEXT III

On Children – Kalil Gibran

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,

Speak to us of Children.

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you and yet they belong not to

you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you

cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not make them like

you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows

are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and

He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the

bow that is stable.

From The Prophet (Knopf, 1923). This poem is in Public Domain. Avalible on http:poets.org/poem/children-1. Accessed on June 10^th, 2024.

Read text II to answer question.

TEXT II

Generational conflict

(...)

The generations are turning over faster than ever before. While the Silent generation (1925 to 1945) was a strech of 21 years, the Millennial generation (1980 – 1994) ended just 15 years after it began. As technological change accelerates, people born a mere ten years apart can be released into an utterly different environment. A person born into the era of the smartphone, for example, will exhibit different behaviours to one who predates it, helping explain those teenagers lip-syncing pop songs and pacing out dance trots in supermarkets and carparks. Technology, like the television, the internet, and the smartphone, have a marked effect on not only how we live but on our values and beliefs.

(...)

In his 2020 book Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them, Karl Pillemar surveyed 1,340 Americans aged 18 and over, asking them the question: “Do you have any family members from whom you are currently estranged? He discovered that more than a quarter of Americans, surveyed, or 27 per cent, reported being estranged from a family member – a parent, grandparent, sibling, child, and so on. Extrapolated to the US adult population, that amounts to some 67 million people who are estranged from a family member. Pillemar found that ten per cent are estranged from a parent or child and eight per cent are no longer talking to a sibling. Some in the media are calling it a “silent epidemic” of family break-ups.

“When we meet people, it’s devastating to tell the truth,” Skye Ferrero laments, a mother quoted in Pillemar’s book. “We deal with it by being straightforward: ‘Oh, there are problems... we don’t see each other’.” Five years ago, Skye and her husband were cut off from their daughter and nothing they have done since has brought the couple any closer to her. “I’ve been approached by former neighbours and they say, ‘Well, you seem like such nice people. How come it’s like this? We’ve been labelled with this black cloud.” Skye thinks the issue is more widespread than it appears, it’s just that people don’t wish to talk it. “This is happening in many families,” she says.

Family estrangement can happen for any number of reasons, notwithstanding highly justifiable ones for why someone may wish to cut contact. But such serious offenses aside, fissures in the nuclear family can also happen as family members squabble over rival ideologies: politics, Brexit, vaccinations, conspiracy theories, pronouns, and any number of headline-grabbing social issues. Nasty comments on social media can inflame grievances, prompting one member to declare, “I’m done. I never want to see or speak to them again.”

Adapted from: https://www.newphilosopher.com/articles/generationalconflict accessed on March 21^st, 2024.

Read text II to answer question.

TEXT II

Generational conflict

(...)

The generations are turning over faster than ever before. While the Silent generation (1925 to 1945) was a strech of 21 years, the Millennial generation (1980 – 1994) ended just 15 years after it began. As technological change accelerates, people born a mere ten years apart can be released into an utterly different environment. A person born into the era of the smartphone, for example, will exhibit different behaviours to one who predates it, helping explain those teenagers lip-syncing pop songs and pacing out dance trots in supermarkets and carparks. Technology, like the television, the internet, and the smartphone, have a marked effect on not only how we live but on our values and beliefs.

(...)

In his 2020 book Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them, Karl Pillemar surveyed 1,340 Americans aged 18 and over, asking them the question: “Do you have any family members from whom you are currently estranged? He discovered that more than a quarter of Americans, surveyed, or 27 per cent, reported being estranged from a family member – a parent, grandparent, sibling, child, and so on. Extrapolated to the US adult population, that amounts to some 67 million people who are estranged from a family member. Pillemar found that ten per cent are estranged from a parent or child and eight per cent are no longer talking to a sibling. Some in the media are calling it a “silent epidemic” of family break-ups.

“When we meet people, it’s devastating to tell the truth,” Skye Ferrero laments, a mother quoted in Pillemar’s book. “We deal with it by being straightforward: ‘Oh, there are problems... we don’t see each other’.” Five years ago, Skye and her husband were cut off from their daughter and nothing they have done since has brought the couple any closer to her. “I’ve been approached by former neighbours and they say, ‘Well, you seem like such nice people. How come it’s like this? We’ve been labelled with this black cloud.” Skye thinks the issue is more widespread than it appears, it’s just that people don’t wish to talk it. “This is happening in many families,” she says.

Family estrangement can happen for any number of reasons, notwithstanding highly justifiable ones for why someone may wish to cut contact. But such serious offenses aside, fissures in the nuclear family can also happen as family members squabble over rival ideologies: politics, Brexit, vaccinations, conspiracy theories, pronouns, and any number of headline-grabbing social issues. Nasty comments on social media can inflame grievances, prompting one member to declare, “I’m done. I never want to see or speak to them again.”

Adapted from: https://www.newphilosopher.com/articles/generationalconflict accessed on March 21^st, 2024.

Read text II to answer question.

TEXT II

Generational conflict

(...)

The generations are turning over faster than ever before. While the Silent generation (1925 to 1945) was a strech of 21 years, the Millennial generation (1980 – 1994) ended just 15 years after it began. As technological change accelerates, people born a mere ten years apart can be released into an utterly different environment. A person born into the era of the smartphone, for example, will exhibit different behaviours to one who predates it, helping explain those teenagers lip-syncing pop songs and pacing out dance trots in supermarkets and carparks. Technology, like the television, the internet, and the smartphone, have a marked effect on not only how we live but on our values and beliefs.

(...)

In his 2020 book Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them, Karl Pillemar surveyed 1,340 Americans aged 18 and over, asking them the question: “Do you have any family members from whom you are currently estranged? He discovered that more than a quarter of Americans, surveyed, or 27 per cent, reported being estranged from a family member – a parent, grandparent, sibling, child, and so on. Extrapolated to the US adult population, that amounts to some 67 million people who are estranged from a family member. Pillemar found that ten per cent are estranged from a parent or child and eight per cent are no longer talking to a sibling. Some in the media are calling it a “silent epidemic” of family break-ups.

“When we meet people, it’s devastating to tell the truth,” Skye Ferrero laments, a mother quoted in Pillemar’s book. “We deal with it by being straightforward: ‘Oh, there are problems... we don’t see each other’.” Five years ago, Skye and her husband were cut off from their daughter and nothing they have done since has brought the couple any closer to her. “I’ve been approached by former neighbours and they say, ‘Well, you seem like such nice people. How come it’s like this? We’ve been labelled with this black cloud.” Skye thinks the issue is more widespread than it appears, it’s just that people don’t wish to talk it. “This is happening in many families,” she says.

Family estrangement can happen for any number of reasons, notwithstanding highly justifiable ones for why someone may wish to cut contact. But such serious offenses aside, fissures in the nuclear family can also happen as family members squabble over rival ideologies: politics, Brexit, vaccinations, conspiracy theories, pronouns, and any number of headline-grabbing social issues. Nasty comments on social media can inflame grievances, prompting one member to declare, “I’m done. I never want to see or speak to them again.”

Adapted from: https://www.newphilosopher.com/articles/generationalconflict accessed on March 21^st, 2024.