Abstract
Objective: Suicide has become a leading cause of death worldwide, thus it has become a public health problem for every country in the world and thereby in Pakistan too. The aim of present study was to find out the prevalence of suicidal thoughts among the local population of Karachi. Correlations were also assessed among suicidal thoughts and demographic characteristics. Method: A survey was conducted to fill out a pre-structured questionnaire from the participants between the age group of 18-30. The questionnaire contains Beck’s scale of suicide cognition, Modified scale of suicide ideation and a detailed demographic profile. Subjects were taken from different universities, medical colleges, offices and business schools. Mentally ill patients were not included in the study. Result: Severe Suicide ideation and suicidal cognitions are prevalent in the population to about 4% and 3% respectively. Also in the study, demographic variations exist in subjects with respect to suicidal thoughts; male, non-working, unhappy, in-pain subjects, unmarried, being in the 18-21 age brackets and undergraduate reported higher suicidal thoughts as compared to their correspondent parameters. Conclusion: It has been concluded that severe suicidal thoughts are prevalent among youngsters. And certain demographic characters are strongly correlated with amplified suicidal thoughts among youth of Karachi.
Highlights
According to the recent report of World Health Organization of 2006, about a million people, commit suicide every year in the whole wide world, which is far more than the deaths occurred in wars (WHO, 2006; Kessler et al, 2005 & Mann, 2003)
Mild suicide ideation is prevalent to 41% of the total sample
The prime objective of the study was to measure the prevalence of suicide ideation and suicide cognition among the local population of Karachi
Summary
According to the recent report of World Health Organization of 2006, about a million people, commit suicide every year in the whole wide world, which is far more than the deaths occurred in wars (WHO, 2006; Kessler et al, 2005 & Mann, 2003). Suicide has become a public health problem affecting entire world at every level with devastating socio-economic cost and consequences (WHO, 2013 & Mann, 2003). It is revealed that after every 40 seconds a person takes his or her life somewhere in the world (WHO, 2006). Researchers define suicide as “an outcome of deliberate obliteration or killing of oneself” (Kaplan, et al, 1998). Krug in 2002 defined suicide as “an outcome of deliberate acts of the person with considerable initiation and performance of a pattern to knowingly kill oneself” (Krug, 2002). The word suicide is etymologically derived from a Latin word, suicidium (Sui=oneself and Cidium=killing) (Jans, et al, 2012)
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