Suicide among psychiatrists: From healers to seekers of mental health care

Addressing suicide and mental health issues among psychiatrists, particularly during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic is important. several factors contribute to this risk, such as long duty hours, burnout, emotional exhaustion, exposure to secondary trauma, and the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of healthcare workers. This paper emphasizes the urgent need for interventions at individual and organizational levels to address burnout and mental health issues among psychiatrists. Supporting the mental resilience of mental health professionals will improve the mental health of the community.

Analysis of Newspaper Reporting of Non-fatal Suicide Attempts During the Covid-19 Lockdown in Pakistan

Background: This study was aimed to observe newspaper reports about non-fatal suicide attempts in Pakistan during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: We performed content analysis of news reports about incomplete suicides from four vernacular newspapers of Pakistan between March and August 2020. Results: A total of 87 news reports about suicide attempts were examined; the vast majority of the suicide attempters was Muslims (78%), males (64%), females (36%) with (33%) mentions of age, ranging from 19-30 years, and married were (76%). However, occupation was largely missing from (93%) of the news. Self-poisoning was the commonly reported method in (65%) of suicide attempts, whereas familial discord was the leading risk factor for (72%) of suicide attempts. Conclusions: Although psychological intervention is crucial to reduce familial discords as risk factors, monitoring the mental health conditions of people vulnerable to suicide and the figures on attempted suicides should be maintained and collected nationally and regionally.

Prevalence of suicidal behaviour among students living in Muslim-majority countries: systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Assessing suicidal behaviours among students would help to understand the burden and enhance suicide prevention.

AIMS

We aimed to determine the prevalence of suicidal behaviour among students living in Muslim-majority countries.

METHOD

We followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A systematic search was conducted in Medline, EMBASE and PsycINFO. Meta-analyses were performed to pool the lifetime, 1-year and point prevalence rates for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts.

RESULTS

From 80 studies, 98 separate samples were included in this analysis. The majority (n = 49) were from the Eastern Mediterranean, and 61 samples were of university students. The pooled prevalence of suicidal ideation was 21.9% (95% CI 17.4%-27.1%) for lifetime, 13.4% (95% CI 11.1%-16.1%) for the past year and 6.4% (95% CI 4.5%-9%) for current. The pooled prevalence of suicide plans was 6.4% (95% CI 3.7%-11%) for lifetime, 10.7% (95% CI 9.1%-12.4%) for the past year and 4.1% (95% CI 2.7%-6.2%) for current. The pooled prevalence of suicide attempts was 6.6% (95% CI 5.4%-8%) for lifetime and 4.9% (95% CI 3.6%-6.5%) for the past year. The lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation was highest (46.2%) in South-East Asia, but the 12-month prevalence was highest (16.8%) in the Eastern Mediterranean.

CONCLUSIONS

The study revealed notably high rates of suicidal behaviours among students living in Muslim-majority countries. However, the quality of studies, differences in regional and cultural factors, stages of studentship and methods of measurement should be considered when generalising the study results.

NEWSPAPER-REPORTING ON SUICIDES DURING THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN IN PAKISTAN: A CONTENT ANALYSIS

BACKGROUND

Suicide is a social relevant issue and a leading cause of deaths in the world; it has been reported that COVID-19 has significantly increased the rate of suicide worldwide. This study aimed to review media reporting on suicide cases occurred in Pakistan during the COVID-19 lockdown.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A content analysis has been performed considering the electronic version of the daily Kawish newspaper reporting suicide cases from March to August 2020 in Pakistan.

RESULTS

A total of 213 news regarding suicide in Pakistan during the lockdown period were identified. Suicide committers reported age ranging 19-30 years old, and the majority of them were males (74%). Suicide methods ranged as following: harmful practices (79%) > hanging (37%) > self-poisoning (28%). Factors associated to the risk of suicide were: familial discords (36%), poverty (21%) and joblessness (14%).

CONCLUSION

Findings of this study have shown that pandemic lockdown in Pakistan have increased the number of factors, such as family issues, unemployment and poverty, leading to suicide especially in young males. The report of suicides may have an impact on the public general opinion and a responsible news-reporting is needed by press agencies and media.